I've tried to 'get into' Shakespeare a number of times, and have recently started another attempt. I'm going through the plays from the beginning and quite enjo

I've tried to 'get into' Shakespeare a number of times, and have recently started another attempt. I'm going through the plays from the beginning and quite enjoying them. I actually don't agree that the comedy is that funny, and I find the plots completely over-the-top. The thing is, I've seen enough films at this point in my life that even when I see new material, I get the sense that I've seen it before. Shakespeare's stories might be very predictable, but instead of giving much thought to the plot, you focus more on getting into the heads of the characters in the moment. They are vehicles for the universal human feelings: jealousy, love, lust, loneliness, elation, depression, mourning etc. And then the way Shakespeare describes this is so rich. This is one way in that reading the plays is more rewarding than watching them, because in our day you need more time to parse the sentences, to look up archaic words (or those whose meaning has changed) and Classical references. But I find that putting in that work enriches my own English, and is an entertaining puzzle on its own .