I have been planning to read Shakespeare for many years but whenever I take up the task it seems so daunting. Call it lack of time or lack of desire for the required effort; I have never been able to go beyond even the first scenes of the first acts. I wish I had graduated in English literature because then I would have had to read and understand these great works. The only classical writers I have read so far comprehensively are Dostoyevsky, to an extent Kafka, and of course Charles Dickens. I have read Hardy too but somehow I don’t consider him a classical writer. There are so many great writers I haven’t even heard of. I think the more I read the more I’ll know about them. I firmly believe that good reading helps you become a better writer. If nothing else reading gives you lots of thoughts to think about.
In order to make my Shakespeare reading easier I am first reading the notes prepared by various teachers, professors and even students. I can find lots of them easily on the Internet.
The first play that I’m reading is "Antony and Cleopatra". There was no specific reason behind it, I chose it randomly. For a long time I used to believe that Ptolemy was Cleopatra’s immediate brother whereas in reality he was an ancestor who was a general in Alexander’s army. A few centuries before Cleopatra, Ptolemy had come in possession of Egypt when Alexander died. So this way Cleopatra was a Greek and not an Egyptian.
Mark Antony was a mighty general in Caesar’s army. The romance between Mark Antony and Cleopatra "blossomed" after Julius Caesar’s death; Cleopatra was going around with him before he died. After Julius Caesar’s death Octavius Caesar started ruling Rome with the help of Mark Antony and another character I am yet to come across.
Till now I’ve reached the part where, upon hearing about his wife’s death Mark Antony leaves the conniving Cleopatra to help Caesar fight Rome’s enemies and Caesar is bitching about Antony’s debaucheries in Egypt.
My initial thoughts: if I am looking for something deeper in this literature I haven’t found it yet because most of the time I’m struggling with the language. I have a strong grasp over the contemporary language but there are many expressions in Shakespearean literature (in fact, in all older texts) I have never come across. Everything ends with a "eth" or an "er" it seems and it being a play there are lots of simple things expressed intricately. That said, reading extra notes prior to reading the actual text has definitely helped and I am already in the scene 4 of the act 1. It hasn’t become enjoyable but I can feel it that soon it will.
As I mentioned above I have wanted to read classical literature for a long time. Aside from this reason I also wanted to stretch my mind; indulge in something I find inconvenient. So I have decided to not only read the classical texts but also write about them in various blog posts here. And anyway when I had started this blog I had thought of sharing my literary progress here (that’s why the name Writing Cave) but then the vicissitudes of life took me to other directions and I ended up writing about almost everything under the sun. I will still be writing about everything under the sun but hopefully I will be discussing more literature from now onwards.
