A review by kn0tp0rk
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Alexander Text by William Shakespeare

3.0

As if I couldn't get any more pretentious, I've decided to mark my place using a goose feather. This becomes a narrative throughout my notes lol

I got this edition sometime around when it was first published in 2006. Borders bookstores were still a thing. I was in the 6th or 7th grade. My full name is haphazardly scrawled across the bottom: I ran out of space and my surname is squished. Much like with my edition of Moby Dick, at the time of purchase, I couldn't read this. I'm now 28 (26 when I started). I can read it without any trouble.

When I'd tell people that this is what I'd do in my free time, they'd seem bewildered. They ask for clarification. "All of it?" or "Which translation?" It wouldn't be unusual to get an "I can't understand any of that." I have my preferences but I'm not a snob. I'd tell them how I didn't get it either when I first tried and that I've spent lots of time in the dictionary because of it. And hey, if you WANT to read Shakespeare, get an edition that is easy for you to understand.

My main goals here were:

1. Read all of Shakespeare with this translation

2. Extract words I like

3. Learn about structuring figurative language

I still have to work on #2. I was doing this by hand, but it was slowing down my reading progress. I'll write a python script when I get around to it.

My main complaint is how these stories have brought along with them beliefs that negatively affect our societies. There's no shortage of racism, sexism, anti-semitism, and pro-capitalist language that remains with us today. The "good guys" still remain immoral or constrained products of their author's time.

A question I obviously get a lot is whether I like Shakespeare. I usually groan and shrug. The stories can be engaging but they're not "good". Characters are nonsensical stereotypes (ugly people are villains) and the plots/conclusions are unrealistic for their respective genres (villains confess and/or die). These traits are exactly what made them so work. The dialogue is witty and the rest is mostly the popular opinions of the time period, even when Shakespeare was being risqué.

My notes are over every story and poem and are too long to post here. Below is a OneDrive link you may visit to read the PDF. Be wary of my crude language and I apologize for any spelling/grammatical mistakes.

Enjoy your meal: https://1drv.ms/b/s!ApjsIm-ImQTOhc1e2UOEPW7yDS1Krw?e=LxaI3i