There are two approaches to reading Shakespeare, read to get through it or read to understand it. If you choose the later, you had better be ready to analyze yourself along the way. My fist read was Macbeth. From here, I fell in love with the whole language his works are written and his timing. Shakespeare wrote a great deal for the stage so there is not a lot wasted energy in his plays or even his sonnets. They all move to points very cleanly and quickly without giving away any suspense of ending. Not the easiest reading but worth the effort.

Since age ten I have loved Shakespeare! I will have Juliet's balcony speech memorised until the day I die, and will always remember the storyline! I love so many of the plays, Shakespeare is great!

I had the usual eighth grade English class "Romeo and Juliet" introduction to Shakespeare and - I was smitten from the beginning! From then on, Shakespeare's plays and sonnets have had the ability to draw me in and make me want to linger in their atmosphere of long gone times. Not having grown up with Elizabethan English as a second language, I can remember back in Jr. high feeling more than a little frustrated at times trying to understand just exactly what was going on at any given time. Yet, I soon came to the conclusion that having to study a little harder to digest the beautiful but antiquated language seemed a fair trade for having a chance to experience the timeless enchantment.

Shakespeare was one of the most brilliant writers this world has ever had. The 'language' he wrote in is known as middle English. If people can't understand that, I dread to think how they'd react if they tried reading Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'! Shakespeare was a great dramatist and wrote beautifully. Great man.

You life will never be the same after reading a William Shakespeare poem or play. He is the ultimate genius.

I don't think many people comprehend how much contemporary life is informed by Shakespeare's legacy.

This how they talked, it simple things to understand if you put some thought into it and used what brains you have, duh! He is imaginative and tackles different issues before his time. It great reading and great to see as well. If you can't see it with people doing it for you, get up yourself and figure it out, rent a movie or just picture it in your head.

There are little minds screaming "He uses a diferent language!!", "Oh God, I don't know somebody who speaks like him" Please!!! Do not say that kind of unbrains things!!!! Of course he uses a different language!!!! Please, put attention in your history class: IN HIS TIME THAT WAS THE CURRENT ENGLISH, and his stories are Theatrical, and romantic works... what do you want?, a Romeo saying: "My hot Juliet, come to me and make me feel like a man..." or "What the hell was it? The alarm clock? or the siren of an ambulance?...yeah! it was the alarm clock!!" PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! Go, buy a bit of brains and put it on, and after that you should come and tell me how does it feels, ok?

His strength is his treatment of enduring human life issues.

Shakespeare should be on stage, not dissected in English classes.

Though there are rumors that all of his plays were written by Edward DeVere, I think that this author is the most amazing geious of all time!

If you want to apprecaite Shakespeare you must see him performed by a top company. He is a playwright not a novellist: his words are not meant to be read. See a good production -- the language difficulties disappear and the universality of his ideas comes through.

His plays still have the power to entertain, especially the comedies. Many of his words are used today by people all over the world who do not even realise whom they are quoting.

I would rather still see an adapataion of one of the Bard's plays on the screen than any current writer's.

he uses a different language! i know nobody who speaks like that.

Good storylines but language is too cumbersome.

The "5" by which other authors should be rated.

Romeo+Juliet. Do I have to say more?

Can't go wrong with him. He is full of the worlds little wonders.

There's little reason to waste time trying to come up with better reasons than others have why Shakespeare is essential reading for anyone and everyone. Even if he were less of a pleasure to read, you'd have to read him simply to understand so many of the quotations and allusions that fill our culture to this day. Fortunately he never ages, never grows tiresome, never stops giving us the funniest lines and most poignant, tragic, bittersweet moments. So many of his dramatic situations (Romeo and Juliet -- tragic romance; Hamlet -- indecision; MacBeth -- the perils of ambition) remain the prototypes up to the present day.

I have always had great respect for the literary creations of William shakespeare.