Comments on: Five and Twenty

By: Amber

Amber — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:54:25 +0000

Hi, this list was really useful thanks for publishing Recently I’ve started to try remedy my shocking lack of shakespeare within my reading repertoire and haven’t really had much of an idea where to start. I’ve just read Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth I did a little Tempest and Twelfth night at school I think I might have a go at Hamlet or Midsummer next

By: hifidel

hifidel — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:20:39 +0000

Hey, this is a really cool list! (Yeah, and I like dorks too.)

It’s fun to see that people have actually read my blogs.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:47:42 +0000

Titus is an absolutely dreadful play, and I despise it with gusto. But the fact that it provokes any reaction at all is enough for me to place it above Merry Wives, which is a waste of perfectly good parchment.

Henry VIII is just okay. And I actually kind of like Timon of Athens and All’s Well, so that should give you a pretty good sense of where I stand on the canon.

So who’s in your five?

By: DeLisa

DeLisa — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:54:04 +0000

It’s interesting to me that you don’t like Titus. And dorks are my favorite kind of fellows so GO GEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: DeLisa

DeLisa — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:01:06 +0000

Hey – why didn’t you just rank them all? There’s only 12 more…. Now I’m curious…

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:09:32 +0000

I did, but I didn’t want to look like a dork by posting them all.

I guess that ship has pretty much sailed.

36. The Merry Wives of Windsor
35. Titus Andronicus
34. Henry the Eighth
33. Timon of Athens
32. All’s Well that Ends Well
31. Pericles
30. Love’s Labour’s Lost
29. Henry the Sixth, Part Two
28. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
27. Troilus and Cressida
26. Henry the Sixth, Part One

And now my big confession…

I have never read Coriolanus.

I’m hoping to remedy that at our June reading.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:42:12 +0000

I did realize that, but I decided to stay true to my preferences rather than trying to mix it up. I guess I prefer the tragedies because of the intensity of emotion and higher stakes. They also tend to be more sophisticated and multi-layered.

And I have no problem making a list of favorites, just as long as they are looked at as personal preferences and not an argument about better vs. worse. I had trouble sticking to five, though, because then a lot of great plays wouldn’t have made “the list” and they deserve to. Also, as you point out, 4 out of my top 5 would have been the Great Tragedies, and what fun is that?

So I had to expand the list. First to ten. Then twenty. But then 2H4 got pushed off the list, and I had to expand to 25.

And yeah, I also like making lists. This list was fun because I got to take a personal inventory of what I like about Shakespeare.

By: Duane

Duane — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:07:38 +0000

Notice that I said the same thing, it’s not about “favorites”. I just liked making lists. I wish I knew more about Cymbeline and Winter’s Tale, but having never seen them and only read them years ago it’s hard to put them on a favorites list. Everything on my list ends up being stuff that I’ve seen and studied multiple times.

You realize 4 out of your top 5 are all the Great Tragedies?