How to Survive Shakespeare!

 

My freshman English class and I recently finished reading Romeo and Juliet together.   No doubt, Shakespeare’s writing can be overwhelming and a bit difficult to understand, but in our world of technology grasping his work is a piece of cake.   When it comes to literature, the internet is your friend.   While reading R&J I came up with a system to help me ace my quizzes. This system helped me a bunch! 

Here are some of my tips:

     1. Buy a copy of your book and if possible get the Sparknotes version since it has both the original Shakespeare text as well as plain English.  Sparknotes has a website which is also a great resource.

    2. Conquer each act at a time.  Try by first reading the Shakespeare side with audio (on YouTube), then the plain English side by yourself, and the Shakespeare side once more with audio.

     

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3. Find any videos on YouTube pertaining to your book online, this will help you understand the text visually. 

                                                                               

This doesn’t only help with Shakespeare’s writing.  Finding online resources can be done with almost any piece of literature.  I hope this helps you!

 *Links for mobile:
1. Romeo and Juliet audiobook
2. Act 1: Romeo and Juliet explained

Ciao and Good Luck,

                             Monique