William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 O.S. (May 3, 1616 N.S.). Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died on April 23, 1616 N.S.
Both of them are among the most renowned writers in history, and both of them are literary symbols of their respective native languages and home countries.
Let’s talk about their works. I own a Spanish copy of Don Quixote, though I confess I haven’t read it yet. I’ve read 3 of Shakespeare plays: Macbeth, King Lear and Coriolanus (so far my favorite), and have Hamlet and Othello on my reading list.
What are your favorite plays or least favorite one's? Favorite characters, heroes or villains? Same for Cervantes, for those more acquainted with his works.
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I just got this complete works of shakespeare in yesterday. Its fricking huge lmao.
From him i have read:
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
MacBeth
Hamlet
Othello
My favorite is Hamlet even if thats a bit of a basic opinion. Liked Julius Caesar a lot as well. Also thought A Midsummer Night's Dream was legitimately pretty funny at times, I've liked all of the ones ive read really.
Dont know anything about Cervantes outside Don Quixote myself either.
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That’s a lovely book, I’ll check it up on Amazon. Hamlet seems to be considered his best by many critics
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$46, it was a pretty good deal honestly. Text is pretty small but readable. Hamlet is great, i will randomly go back and read some of it because its written so well. The "to be or not to be" soliloquy is really fricking good.
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He has so many memorable quotes. “Things without all remedy Should be without regard, what is done is done”, “you common cry of curs”, “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow”.
Also, what do you think about Othello? Supposedly Iago is one of his greatest villains.
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Its really insane how good he was, i get why people think he may have been more than one person because it seems almost unreal that one man could pump out so many good, original plots while also being so gifted with language. Maybe there is some more historic basis/influence to him that im unaware about but it seems to me like dude straight up created a ton of story archetypes.
For Othello, I enjoyed it. Its probably the saddest one Ive read, just kinda makes you feel bad for everyone involved except Iago. But hes actually really the main character (in a sense) of the story imo, he is the one that drives the entire plot.
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Another thing I loved about his plays is how timeless they are. Coriolanus deals with themes like populism, mass manipulation, betrayal of one’s fatherland. King Lear with age and narcissism.
Othello seems interesting, everyone loves to hate a great villain
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I plan on reading more of these soon so i think ill start with Coriolanus then. But yeah its kinda weird almost how universal they are. So many modern stories are loosely based on his works, too.
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You should check up Harold bloom’s takes on Shakespeare if you haven’t, he loved Hamlet. We should have a thread on him someday. He hated Harry Potter and pop lit in general, kind of super snob, kind of based at the same time
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Thanks for the rec, just did a light glaze of his thoughts and they do seem interesting. He was also a based gnostic, ill definitely be looking more into him.
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The best thing about Shakespeare is how he captures human nature pretty well and how his characters are reflected in people you meet. Othello is great, interracial cuckoldry drives the plot so you can tell it was written by a mayo, the Kang kills his wife
. Iago pretty much lines up perfectly with the description of an ASPD sociopath.
I like the commentary on Othello in The Brother's Karamazov. It wasn't jealousy that drove Othello to murder, it was the fact that his ideal got ruined.
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Why do so many great works of literature seem to be driven by cuckoldry?
The Iliad and Anna Karenina come to mind.
Also, there should be an Othello adaptation starring Jonathan Majors
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