tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post5209188138301276337..comments2009-11-23T19:58:36.706-05:00Duane Morinhttps://profiles.google.com/108055015572100370657noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-42056636108425468772008-08-11T01:57:00.000-04:002008-08-11T01:57:00.000-04:00Sorry for posting twice =)love sickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864528889406580367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-9649932031439261692008-08-11T01:56:00.001-04:002008-08-11T01:56:00.001-04:00I like the taming of the shrew very much, the play is actually very feminist, as Kate's final monolog is actually sarcastic, and I enjoyed it very much, the again I have played Petruchio. Here is my top 10, hope you like it<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>10. Richard III (because of legnth)<BR/>9. The Taming of the shrew<BR/>8. Twelfth night<BR/>7.Julius Caesar<BR/>6. King Lear<BR/>5. Macbeth<BR/>4. THe mercahnt of Venice<BR/>3. Hamlet<BR/>2. Othello<BR/>1. Romeo and Juliet<BR/><BR/>Feel free to ask me any questions.love sickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864528889406580367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-47745072971785827502008-08-11T01:56:00.000-04:002008-08-11T01:56:00.000-04:00I like the taming of the shrew very much, the play is actually very feminist, as Kate's final monolog is actually sarcastic, and I enjoyed it very much, the again I have played Petruchio. Here is my top 10, hope you like it<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>10. Richard III (because of legnth)<BR/>9. The Taming of the shrew<BR/>8. Twelfth night<BR/>7.Julius Caesar<BR/>6. King Lear<BR/>5. Macbeth<BR/>4. THe mercahnt of Venice<BR/>3. Hamlet<BR/>2. Othello<BR/>1. Romeo and Juliet<BR/><BR/>Feel free to ask me any questions.love sickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864528889406580367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-78241360766114401282008-07-15T09:48:00.000-04:002008-07-15T09:48:00.000-04:00Well, because you asked, I think this is what my personal "top ten" would be:<BR/><BR/>1. Hamlet<BR/>2. Macbeth<BR/>3. Henry V<BR/>4. King Lear<BR/>5. As You Like It<BR/>6. Othello<BR/>7. Julius Caesar<BR/>8. The Winter's Tale<BR/>9. Twelfth Night<BR/>10. Henry IV, Part 1<BR/><BR/>I guess I should feel bad about ranking Lear so low, because it is absolutely magnificent. But that probably is roughly the order in terms of the plays the speak most to me.Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05543729525469734022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-42752457698557016892008-07-15T07:31:00.000-04:002008-07-15T07:31:00.000-04:00As is true with most Shakespearean criticism, Alan.catkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08829033804624219274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-14543711868358021682008-07-15T00:41:00.000-04:002008-07-15T00:41:00.000-04:00I suspect the lists are revealing a lot more about the listers than the plays and their qualities!Alan K.Farrarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12930353547190453742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-75201618448657628662008-07-14T20:13:00.000-04:002008-07-14T20:13:00.000-04:00Craig - You are not playing fair! The whole point is to have to choose among the different genres--that's what makes it hard. I think you should do it over again and stick to 10. (I can forgive Bill because at least you can ignore everything in his list from 11 to 37).<BR/>--Carlcatkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08829033804624219274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-89213225466325855482008-07-14T15:47:00.000-04:002008-07-14T15:47:00.000-04:00Can I play, too? I'll make a list that's a little bit different. Dividing Shakespeare's 38 widely-acknowedged plays into tragedies, comedies, histories, and tragicomic "romances," here are my personal rankings for them all:<BR/><BR/>Tragedies<BR/>1. Hamlet (life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans)<BR/>2. Macbeth <BR/>3. Lear (we who are young will never see so much, or live so long)<BR/>4. Othello<BR/>5. Caesar (a trip to the land of Bad Options)<BR/>6. Romeo & Juliet (we all destroy our own children)<BR/>7. Coriolanus (geez, politics is a problem)<BR/>8. Titus (blood will have blood, and then _that_ blood will have blood, and so on until we're all dead)<BR/>9. Antony & Cleopatra (okay, so I have no taste)<BR/>10. Timon <BR/>11. Troilus & Cressida (I think the Iliad does a perfectly good job of deflating its own heroes)<BR/><BR/>Comedies<BR/>1. As You Like It (I love you, Rosalind)<BR/>2. 12th Night (You're pretty excellent too, Viola)<BR/>3. Merchant (I'll never work you out, Shylock)<BR/>4. Dream<BR/>5. Much Ado<BR/>6. Love's Labour's (a great feast of languages)<BR/>7. All's Well (hugely under-rated)<BR/>8. Measure (similarities to All's Well, but less satisfying for me because the Duke could end the game at any time by throwing back his hood)<BR/>9. Errors (excellent farce, but ultimately shallow--no connection to any kind of reality)<BR/>10. Windsor (slander on Falstaff's name)<BR/>11. Shrew<BR/>12. Two Gents<BR/><BR/>Histories:<BR/>1. Henry V (straightforward on a first glance, but deeper and more ambiguous every time you see it)<BR/>2. Henry IV, Part 1 (it would be a great play even without Falstaff)<BR/>3. Richard III (great on its own, even better as the culmination of the tetralogy)<BR/>4. Richard II<BR/>5. Henry VI, Part 3 (You do _not_ want to mess with Queen Margaret.)<BR/>6. Henry VI, Part 2<BR/>7. Henry IV, Part 2 (yeah, it's got Falstaff in it, but it's a real low point in the narrative) <BR/>8. John<BR/>9. Henry VIII (as many good elements as there are, it's an overlong muddle on the stage)<BR/>10. Henry VI, Part 1 (how do they lose France while winning battle after battle?)<BR/><BR/>Romances:<BR/>1. The Winter's Tale (pure magic)<BR/>2. The Tempest <BR/>3. Cymbeline (the original version of The Complete Works (Abridged))<BR/>5. Two Noble Kinsmen <BR/>6. Pericles (that reunion scene is wonderful, but, the play as a whole is kind of a rambling mess)Craighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05543729525469734022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-74085256239203608472008-07-14T07:13:00.000-04:002008-07-14T07:13:00.000-04:00The following list takes into account also plays I delight in watching, not simply their literary merit.<BR/><BR/>1. King Lear<BR/>2. Hamlet<BR/>3. Henry V<BR/>4. R3<BR/>5. Much Ado<BR/>6. R&J<BR/>7. Macbeth<BR/>8. Othello<BR/>9. 1H4<BR/>10. Antony & CleopatraAnniinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293294133521209973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-91352006315845780952008-07-13T22:58:00.000-04:002008-07-13T22:58:00.000-04:00I want to play!<BR/><BR/>1. King Lear<BR/>2. Richard III<BR/>3. Hamlet<BR/>4. Macbeth<BR/>5. As You Like It<BR/>6. Othello<BR/>7. A Midsummer Night's Dream<BR/>8. Measure for Measure<BR/>9. Julius Caesar<BR/>10. Henry V<BR/>11. Richard II<BR/>12. Antony and Cleopatra<BR/>13. King John<BR/>14. 1H4<BR/>15. The Merchant of Venice<BR/>16. Twelfth Night<BR/>17. Romeo and Juliet<BR/>18. The Taming of the Shrew<BR/>19. Cymbeline<BR/>20. 2H4<BR/>21. The Comedy of Errors<BR/>22. 3H6<BR/>23. The Winter's Tale<BR/>24. Much Ado About Nothing<BR/>25. The Tempest<BR/>26. Coriolanus<BR/>
27. 1H6<BR/>28. Troilus and Cressida<BR/>
29. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
<BR/>30. Love’s Labour’s Lost
<BR/>31. Pericles
<BR/>
32. All’s Well that Ends Well
<BR/>33. 2H6<BR/>34. Timon of Athens<BR/>35. Henry the Eighth<BR/>36. Titus Andronicus
<BR/>37. The Merry Wives of WindsorBillhttp://shakespeareteacher.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-24699393916457447772008-07-13T00:42:00.000-04:002008-07-13T00:42:00.000-04:00ahhhh! I've been sucked in! I now MUST post my own list! After spending the last twenty years completely immersed in his plays, I have definitely formed opinions about which are the "greatest." In some cases it may just be because a bit of text within is so sublime that even grievous errors in the rest of the play can't overshadow the perfection of a few lines. So, here's my list:<BR/><BR/>#1: Hamlet, wait, King Lear, no wait Hamlet..<BR/>#2: King Lear, nahhh, Hamlet, on <BR/>2nd thought King Lear....<BR/>#3: Macbeth<BR/>#4: The Tempest<BR/>#5: Othello<BR/>#6: Romeo & Juliet (ONLY bc of the balcony scene..)<BR/>#7: A Midsummer Night's Dream ( I know a bank...)<BR/>#8: Twelfth Night<BR/>#9: Richard the Third<BR/>#10: The Winter's Take (This story takes the cake for me...)<BR/><BR/>BTW, did anyone else here see Frances West as Hermione at the Brattle in Cambridge all those years ago - 1989 I think? She was my mentor. I still miss her...KeriCahillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-11754073640449944172008-07-12T14:24:00.000-04:002008-07-12T14:24:00.000-04:00Alan, I don't think anyone would argue that the Shrew is a great play, but it does have its problems from the feminist perspective and the question is does it have what it takes to make the top ten?<BR/>Shall we take up the challenge? It is not easy to limit oneself to 10, and the tragedies tend to squeeze out the rest. I don't think any two lists should be the same, but I tink it would be interesting to see what is on everyone's list, what is on nobody's, and what gets the most votes for top 3.<BR/>Here is my list:<BR/>1. Othello<BR/>2. Lear<BR/>3. Macbeth<BR/>4. Antony & Cleopatra<BR/>5. Hamlet<BR/>6. Julius Caesar<BR/>7. Romeo & Juliet<BR/>8. 1H4<BR/>9. 2H4<BR/>10. Much Ado<BR/>I want to add more comedies and Henry V, but there is no more room.catkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08829033804624219274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-11483971214275329942008-07-12T09:26:00.000-04:002008-07-12T09:26:00.000-04:00Alan - to be fair, there are a bunch of Listverse regulars who will comment no matter what the list is about (I'm a regular myself) - the site does have a strong sense of community about it for many of us. Having said this...the Shakespeare list is not a particularly good one..on many levels; and, despite what the list author is saying (the author is not the owner of the site, BTW), there are a number of commenters who have also expressed differing views to those of the author - which is a part of the enjoyment that the site offers.kiwiboinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13529575.post-37332756188392859332008-07-12T02:05:00.000-04:002008-07-12T02:05:00.000-04:00You don't need to read past the first comment - interesting list based on me never having read (or seen?) any of the things listed!<BR/><BR/>Mind you - there's more to the Shrew than most people realise.Alan K.Farrarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12930353547190453742noreply@blogger.com