How to read Shakespeare without a teacher

Shakespeare is not difficult because the language is obscure. The language is unfamiliar, which is a different problem with a practical solution. The actual difficulty of Shakespeare -- the moral complexity, the emotional range, the formal invention -- becomes accessible once the language barrier is handled correctly.

This guide covers how to read Shakespeare's plays on the page without a classroom, a teacher, or a theatre production to carry you through.

Why does Shakespeare feel hard?#

Three things create the difficulty:

Early Modern English. Shakespeare wrote in English from roughly 1590 to 1613. The grammar differs from modern English in specific ways. The vocabulary has changed. Certain common words mean something different (or have disappeared entirely). "Wherefore" does not mean "where" -- it means "why." "Doubt" in Shakespeare often means "suspect." "Nothing" frequently carries sexual connotation.

Verse structure. Most of Shakespeare is written in iambic pentameter -- ten-syllable lines with a specific stress pattern. This verse form compresses meaning and can make individual speeches harder to follow on a first read than if the same content were written in prose.

Missing context. Many of Shakespeare's jokes, references, and allusions require knowledge of Elizabethan culture, politics, theology, and daily life that readers of his time had automatically. Modern readers lack it and often do not know what they are missing.

None of these are permanent obstacles. All of them have practical solutions.

What to read before you start#

For any play you are reading, spend five minutes reading a plot summary first. This is not cheating. Shakespeare's audiences frequently knew the plots before they arrived -- the plays were not mystery boxes. Knowing what happens lets you focus on how it happens and why, which is where Shakespeare's actual achievement lives.

For complex plays like Hamlet, knowing before you start that Hamlet's uncle killed his father, that Hamlet knows this from a ghost, and that the play is fundamentally about the problem of action under uncertainty -- that framework makes the opening scenes legible rather than confusing.

Which play should you start with?#

The standard recommendations are correct and they are correct for reasons:

For comedy: A Midsummer Night's Dream or Much Ado About Nothing. Both have clear plots, great comic characters, and the most accessible language of any Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night's Dream is free on Foxing.

For tragedy: Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth. Romeo and Juliet has the clearest emotional through-line and the most contemporary-feeling romantic language. Macbeth is short and has the most immediately dramatic action of any Shakespeare tragedy.

For history: Henry V is the most standalone of the history plays and has some of the most famous speeches (St Crispin's Day, "Once more unto the breach").

Do not start with King Lear. It is the greatest play in the canon and the most demanding. Come to it after you have read at least two others.

How do you handle the language?#

Read the footnotes or marginal glosses. Do not try to decode Early Modern English by inference on a first read. Good editions (Arden, Oxford, Folger) gloss every non-obvious word and phrase at the bottom of the page. Use them. This slows reading initially but builds vocabulary fast -- by Act Two of your first play, the most common differences between Shakespeare's English and modern English will have become familiar.

For digital reading: the MIT Shakespeare resource provides the complete plays free online. For annotated editions, the Folger Shakespeare Library provides well-annotated free digital editions at folgerdigitaltexts.org.

Should you read it aloud?#

Yes, where possible. Shakespeare was written to be spoken. The iambic pentameter -- da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM -- makes the speeches easier to follow when you hear the rhythm. Reading aloud also forces you to process every word rather than skimming, which is where most reading difficulty with Shakespeare actually occurs.

If reading aloud is not practical, listening to a recording while following the text gives you the same benefit. The BBC has produced recordings of the complete works. The Arkangel Shakespeare series is excellent.

What about the history plays?#

The history plays require more background than the tragedies and comedies. A very brief overview of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor succession -- Wikipedia's articles are sufficient -- makes the history plays significantly more legible. The key thing to know: Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, and the two parts of Henry IV form a connected sequence. Read them in order if you go into the histories.

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Further reading#

For the broader context of how to approach challenging classic texts, how to read classic literature: a modern reader's complete guide is the cornerstone guide.

For 19th-century prose after you have built confidence with Shakespeare, how to read 19th century prose applies similar techniques to the novel.

Hamlet is free on Foxing, as are several other plays.

Sources#

• Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, eds., The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, Oxford University Press, 1988
• Russ McDonald, The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001
• Folger Digital Texts -- free annotated Shakespeare