Reading

Abstract

Reading a Shakespeare play is like swimming: however difficult it may seem at first, once started and practised the process becomes entirely natural and readers grow more ambitious. Some will have more difficulty with the language than others and yet, on a first reading, that hardly matters because enough words and images will catch attention and hold it moving forward. For everyone reading will be different as it involves the imagination and brings memories, fantasies, day dreams, and real dreams into play. What we consciously think is also involved, the opinions developed from what we have read and heard and those derived from our own experiences. If we keep an open mind, the plays can quickly become part of that long argument we each have about how and why we live, and what we value most in others. If we are curious and adventurous the plays will start to speak for themselves in unique ways.