Great Shakespeare!

Yeah, yeah. All Shakespeare is great. Yadda yadda.

But here's the real good stuff.

Great Shakespeare

• Hamlet: Well, obviously. It's not the best, though, I think. My favorite lingers below. It's interesting, though. I think Hamlet might be the most awful (in terms of personality) Shakespeare hero. I mean, Macbeth seems good at heart and usually isn't particularly cruel, just efficient. Iago is just crazy (and possibly lust-driven?), so I don't think he counts. Edmund (from Lear) makes some really good arguments for his cause. Brutus is a softy. Titus A. is initially a crazy mo-fo, but he gets his comeuppance in the classic Greek-style. Hamlet's just a bitch. But we still love him, which I guess is the genius of the thing.
  

• King Lear: My personal favorite. Probably his most depressing play, instead of doing the normal "character rises in fortune until Act 3, then gets knocked down" thing, Lear goes straight down all the way. It's like a long death sigh--or maybe a scream.

• Macbeth: I've read the good ol' Scottish play about a million times before, but the most recent reading reminded me of the best part of it. Not the stuff about fate vs. free will. Not the long, beautiful speeches about blood and actors fretting about the stage and all that. No, it's the pure tightness of the plot. This is good entertainment, friends! It's very...HBO.

Good Shakespeare

• A Midsummer Night's Dream: Easily my favorite of the comedies. Well, I don't love the comedies, actually. But AMND is a load of fun. I'm just sad there seem to be zero good movie versions out there.

• Antony and Cleopatra: This is a fun one. Very prettily written, too, and kind of po-mo, 'cause it's all about prettiness and appearances--and especially theatre. And how can you have a play with Cleopatra and have it not be loads of fun? As usual, Marc Antony is a douchebag. Poor guy. Of all the Romans I think he has one of the worst reputations. Wonder why...

• Henry IV: Wait, scratch that. Hal might be as bitchy as Hamlet. Well, sometimes. I know he's supposed to come off well, but I find him kind of toolish towards the end. But it's a fun one.
  

• Othello: A respectable play. But it's a one-man show, basically. I'm pretty sure Iago has more lines than any Shakespeare character ever (except maybe Hamlet, but I forget). I find Iago fairly flat, too, so it's not as great as it could be.

• Richard III: All right, Richard III is unabashedly evil, too, but how can you not like him? That's sort of the whole point of the play.
  

• Titus Andronicus: Yes, I do like Titus A. I know it's not in fashion, but (whether intentionally or not) the play's hilarious. Not too fond of the gross movie version, however.

Just so we're clear that Willy wasn't perfect:

Shakespeare that's just ok: Julius C, Henry V, Richard II, The Tempest

Shakespeare that is overrated like whoa: Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare that makes me feel icky inside: Taming of the Shrew