2025 Reading - Shakespeare
January 7, 2026 at 11:30 PM
In 2025 I started working through Henry Oliver’s Great English Literature syllabus. Shakespeare is Henry’s recommended starting point, given his profound influence on all the literature that followed. My goal was to read all 11 of his suggested sampling of plays over the course of the year. I finished 9 of the 11 (plus Richard II, which I wanted to read before Henry IV pt. 1), and will round out the last two in January or February.
This was my first time reading Shakespeare, aside from an in-class reading of Macbeth back in high school, which I have little memory of. For a while I was following each read with a viewing of a recorded performance of the play, though I’ve fallen behind on this. This is perhaps the most obvious thing a person could say about literature, but I can’t recommend Shakespeare enough… I’ve had a blast reading these and plan to knock out another 10 or so in 2026!
Hamlet: Properly rated. Maybe not the easiest starting point, but I think it’s better to start with one of the masterpieces, even if difficult, so you get a taste of how good Shakespeare can be. I enjoyed Adam Scott’s rendition, and his performance of the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy inspired me to memorize the speech. I love the Hecuba speech as well. Looking forward to reading this one again now that I have a year of practice reading Shakespeare’s writing.
The Tempest: I put this in Tier 2 out of 4 in my personal Shakespeare rankings (additional tiers may be added as I read more, all rankings subject to change). I found the character of Caliban difficult but overall the themes of this play were more interesting to me than those in the other, more conventional comedies.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
A Midsummer Night's Dream: A good play. A classic Shakespearian comedy. I’m glad I read it. But it goes in Tier 3. The bar is high!
Measure for Measure: Very enjoyable. More complex than the other comedies I read (in fact it’s sometimes categorized as a ‘problem’ play, not fitting neatly in the comedy or tragedy category), and though the ending is a bit awkward, that’s a minor part of the play all things considered. I liked the Globe Theatre rendition, especially the Duke. I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Tyler Cowen - Henry Oliver discussion of Measure for Measure.
Romeo and Juliet: I’m glad that I finally know the actual plot of this one and that all the references make sense now! It goes in Tier 2. There’s lots of memorable poetry, a good plot, and it’s more ‘re-readable’ than most of the other plays. At the risk of giving deeply-uninformed literary analysis, this one felt a bit ‘messier’ or less ‘polished’ than, say, Hamlet or Richard II, almost as though the ideal version of it would be edited to 80 or 90% of the words. But of course we're nitpicking here, it's a wonderful play. I've not yet found a top-tier recording. The Globe Theatre taping had a phenomenal Juliet, but the Romeo was so bad it ruined everything else about the play and made it borderline unwatchable.
Much ado about nothing: I feel much the same way about this one as I do about Midsummer. Very enjoyable, good poetry and good plot, but not as sensational as some of the others. I think I am just less compelled by the comedies than the tragedies.
Macbeth: I loved the poetry (lots of highlighting in this one, which I do when I enjoy a line or section), but as a play it was merely good. I need to give this one another go, though, because I read most of this before bed, where my tired brain sometimes struggles to fully grasp what I read. This is also the point where I stopped keeping up with watching recordings of the plays, so consider the rest of these appraisals incomplete.
Winter's Tale: A bit meh. Mid-tier poetry and mid-tier plot. However, I read this after a long break from Shakespeare, so perhaps my brain needed some time to adjust to the writing. I’ll give it another shot sometime in the future.
Antony and Cleopatra: Also a bit meh. This one has noticeably more ‘plot development’ than the other plays I read, and I found this made it difficult to follow. The poetry was just okay (by Shakespeare standards), I didn’t highlight much and there aren’t any lines or phrases that have stuck in my brain. I do need to watch a performance of this one though, I’m sure the plot will be easier to follow with visuals and maybe that will change how I feel about it.
Richard II: Tier 1, easily. The plot probably isn’t a Tier 1 plot, but the poetry is so good that it doesn’t matter. The poetry was so good there didn’t even need to be a plot. I probably highlighted about half the lines in the play. I could open this one to any random page and I’m sure there’s something on that page that’s fantastic. Here, let’s try:
pg. 67
Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the elements
Of fire and water when their thund’ring shock
At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
Be he fire, I’ll be the yielding water;
The rage be his, whilst on the earth I rain
My waters; on the earth, and not on him.
And
King Richard doth himself appear,
As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent
To dim his glory and to stain the track
Of his bright passage to the occident.
Marvelous! There are very few ‘filler’ lines in this play, even minor plot development is written beautifully. And they say Henry IV and V are the real standouts of the Henriad!