The Great Shakespearean Challenge: Day 1

Armed with nothing but an eager mind and a bookmark...

     Today I will embark on a great literary journey. Armed with nothing but an eager mind and a bookmark, I will take on the great master himself.

     William Shakespeare.

     That's right, folks. I'm going to read every single Shakespeare play. One right after the other.

     No, not in one sitting. I'm not that crazy... and I don't have that kind of time. Unfortunately.

     I've been wanting to read all of Shakespeare's plays for quite awhile now, but the enormity of the task has led to its procrastination. Which play to read first? How should I space out the plays?

     I have finally realized that the only way I will read them all is if I just read the volume of The Complete Plays in its entirety. All at once. All 37 plays.

     The task is actually a little daunting. I mean, I've read Gone With the Wind and Anna Karenina; fat books don't scare me. But just look at this big guy:

1194 pages. No footnotes. No introductions or prefaces. 1194 pages of pure Shakespeare.

      Did I mention there aren't any footnotes?


     Yeah. That's why I was able to buy this giant hardcover for under ten dollars. Deals like that come at a price.

     But don't get me wrong, I really am looking forward to this adventure. I've already read Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Othello. But I read these plays for school, and well, it would be nice to just enjoy Shakespeare without worrying about what I'm going to have to write my next essay on.

     Not only that, but when your a freshman, reading Romeo and Juliet in a room full of immature, hormonal fourteen-year-olds (yourself included), the finer nuances of Shakespeare's writing gets lost in the class's amusement with lines such as "my naked weapon is out."

     And while the prospect of reading all these plays without footnotes is somewhat terrifying, I think the experience will do more good than harm. (For my intelligence, that is, not necessarily my sanity) And anyway, if things really start to get murky, I can always turn to my good friend Spark Notes.

     In my edition of The Complete Plays, the plays are arranged in chronological order from first play written to the last play Shakespeare ever wrote. So as I read, I will be following Shakespeare's journey, watching as the great literary genius grows and changes as a writer.

     The first play I will be reading is King Henry the Sixth. Actually, technically speaking, I will be starting Part One of King Henry the Sixth. Yup. It's a three part play. (Or is it three plays? I'm not too sure...)

     Shakespeare isn't going to start me off easy, but I think I'm up for the challenge.