Hamlet

To be or not to be - that is the question. I have literally memorized Hamlet's soliloquy, and that might be the proudest achievement of my life.

This play is truly the dearest classic to me. It is the only one I genuinely enjoyed reading every step of the way. I read this and watched the movie with Kate Winslet simultaneously, so I was getting the best of both worlds, really.

To read Hamlet, you don't have to live Shakespeare. I hated reading Caesar by Shakespeare, and I found Romeo and Juliet quite boring. Hamlet, on the other hand, is a thrilling tale.

NO SPOILERS

In short, it is the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, avenging his father who has been murdered. Throughout the play, the audience gets an insight into the royal court that Hamlet is surrounded by and Hamlet himself.

It's a simple story with comedy and tragedy in equal parts. The characters are written with such depth that I found extremely fascinating given that some of these characters were only in a few scenes. Hamlet is my favorite character, and no one can say anything different. He is such a complex character with multiple layers.

I read this book for English class, and I had so much fun writing it. Analyzing words and the actions of characters (Ophelia's flowers) was just so incredibly fun for me. Kudos to my English teacher who decided that our class couldn't handle Macbeth so taught Hamlet instead.

I'd highly recommend reading Hamlet, but not alone - read it while watching the movie (1996 version with Kate Winslet & Kenneth Branagh). While reading, I'd also suggest taking notes, so you can conduct some analysis here and there - or to just geek out.

If you need someone to geek out with tho, HMU. I wrote multiple papers for Hamlet so it is seared into my memory :)