{"id":152,"date":"2007-04-04T20:15:01","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T01:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/archives\/152"},"modified":"2017-07-13T20:38:38","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T01:38:38","slug":"five-and-twenty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/archives\/152","title":{"rendered":"Five and Twenty"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shakespeare Geek has posted his top five favorite Shakespeare plays<\/a>, based on another blogger’s post listing his top five favorite Shakespeare plays<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Man, how can you do that? I tried it myself, but the list got a little out of hand. My top five list turns out to have twenty-five plays in it. Bear with me. Here they are, in the ascending order of my preference today. If I made the same list tomorrow, it might be different.<\/p>\n

25. The Tempest<\/strong> – Critics deny this is Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre, but read it and decide for yourself. Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda are unique in Shakespeare, strange for so late a play. <\/p>\n

24. Much Ado About Nothing<\/strong> – There is a lot in this play to recommend, but Beatrice and Benedick are the most fun. I’m also a fan of Dogberry the Constable and, in his own way, Don John. <\/p>\n

23. The Winter’s Tale<\/strong> – I like this play… not as much as other people may like it, but I like it well enough. There are some great speeches in the play, and more than a few moments that kill on stage.<\/p>\n

22. Henry the Sixth, Part Three<\/strong> – The paper crown scene alone should bring this play some recognition. I also enjoy the early character development of Richard Gloucester, the future King Richard III.<\/p>\n

21. Henry the Fourth, Part Two<\/strong> – Vibrant tavern scenes, darkly comic scenes, frenetic battle scenes, and one intense standoff between King Henry and his son Hal. Don’t miss the last five minutes. <\/p>\n

20. The Comedy of Errors<\/strong> – This play can be a lot of fun if you accept it on its own terms. The scene where Antipholus of Ephesus is locked out of his house is reason enough to make the list.<\/p>\n

19. Cymbeline<\/strong> – This is a hidden treasure, filled with great scenes and powerful moments. It has a beautiful fairy-tale quality, strong characters, passionate poetry, and a satisfying ending. More here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

18. The Taming of the Shrew<\/strong> – The first scene between Kate and Petruchio is an all-time classic, and the piece as a whole is a wonderful bit of inspired silliness. The taming can be a bit jarring, though. <\/p>\n

17. Romeo and Juliet<\/strong> – I think it would be hard for anyone to make a Top Five and Twenty list of favorite Shakespeare plays and not include Romeo & Juliet<\/em>. The poetic language is beautiful.<\/p>\n

16. Twelfth Night<\/strong> – There’s a lot going on in this play, and it all works on stage. Don’t let the slapstick elements fool you into thinking this is an unsophisticated play. It isn’t.<\/p>\n

15. The Merchant of Venice<\/strong> – This is another play with a rich complexity that seems to burst out of its fairy-tale frame, which is what allows the darker elements of the play finally to surface. <\/p>\n

14. Henry the Fourth, Part One<\/strong> – Who could resist the irrepressible Falstaff, and his relationship with the young Prince Hal? This play has my favorite tavern scene, and lets not forget Hotspur either.<\/p>\n

13. King John<\/strong> – Shakespeare wrote this play just after the death of his eleven-year-old son, and the influence of that event on this play is breathtaking. Also, the Bastard is a character well worth knowing.<\/p>\n

12. Richard the Second<\/strong> – For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground and talk about the richly complex symbolism and beautiful flowing poetry in this play. Go and fetch me a looking glass.<\/p>\n

11. Antony and Cleopatra<\/strong> – It’s a love story. It’s a war epic. It’s a geopolitical thriller. It’s the greatest story in history told by history’s greatest storyteller. This is not your high school Romeo and Juliet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

10. Henry the Fifth<\/strong> – This is a tight, passionate, stirring play. It’s also a Rorschach test for how you feel about war. Each scene is a mini-masterpiece, and the use of language is extraordinary. <\/p>\n

9. Julius Caesar<\/strong> – This powerful tale of politics, rhetoric, and betrayal in Ancient Rome may be a schoolhouse classic, but it’s a better read as an adult. I find myself coming back again and again.<\/p>\n

8. Measure for Measure<\/strong> – Darker and more overtly sexual than most of Shakespeare’s other comedies, this play explores both the depths of depravity and the better angels of human nature. <\/p>\n

7. As You Like It<\/strong> – This Shakespearean fairy tale is filled with laughs, love, and music. Shakespeare knew what audiences liked, and he gave it to them in this aptly named comedy. <\/p>\n

6. A Midsummer Night’s Dream<\/strong> – One can only imagine what the effect must have been of having fairies and nobles and workmen wrapped up in the same story on stage. One for the ages. <\/p>\n

5. Othello<\/strong> – This is a true masterpiece: in characterization, plot structure, emotion, pacing, poetic language, potency, and thematic cohesion. This is how to write a play, my friends.<\/p>\n

4. Macbeth<\/strong> – I’ve always found this play extremely riveting from beginning to end. The witches prophesy Macbeth will be King, setting a chain of events irrevocably in motion. Spellbinding. <\/p>\n

3. Hamlet<\/strong> – Never before or since has there been such an intimately detailed character study. Was he mad? My father once said, “if you took that close a look at any of our minds, we’d all seem mad.”<\/p>\n

2. King Lear<\/strong> – I make new discoveries every time I read this play, and not just discoveries about the play. This may be the greatest thing ever written in the English language. I may never fully grasp it.<\/p>\n

1. Richard the Third<\/strong> – My personal favorite, and a guilty pleasure at that. Somehow, Shakespeare makes us root for the bad guy. Is there a secret evil genius within us that he speaks to? I’ll never admit to it. <\/p>\n

So those are my top five favorite Shakespeare plays. Feel free to post your top five favorite Shakespeare plays in the comments, however many there may happen to be.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shakespeare Geek has posted his top five favorite Shakespeare plays, based on another blogger’s post listing his top five favorite Shakespeare plays. Man, how can you do that? I tried it myself, but the list got a little out of hand. My top five list turns out to have twenty-five plays in it. Bear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,57,62,91,113,122,58,40,52,76,123,124,125,92,117,3,118,126,93,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antony-and-cleopatra","category-as-you-like-it","category-cymbeline","category-hamlet","category-histories","category-julius-caesar","category-king-lear","category-list","category-macbeth","category-measure-for-measure","category-merchant-of-venice","category-much-ado","category-othello","category-richard-iii","category-romeo-and-juliet","category-shakespeare","category-taming-of-the-shrew","category-tempest","category-the-dream","category-twelfth-night"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4715,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/4715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shakespeareteacher.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}