Shakespeare

I've written in the past about my efforts -- every so often, every few months -- to take on one of the many Shakespeare plays I missed either in high school or college. This time, it was The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Based on what I've read, the play's not necessarily the most well loved or reputed among Elizabethan scholars. But no matter, I really enjoyed it: it's funny, endearing, and playful. And if it's characters don't emerge as "changed" or "evolved" as in others of Shakespeare's plays, well, so be it. That doesn't take aware from the levity of the whole thing, the sense of humor and spectacle. 

As with so many of these second- (and even third-) tier plays, there's so much, I find, in the language itself. Shakespeare was having such fun with the words: this was a time when the English language burned bright. And I really appreciate that: it's not the plot that you look to in these plays; it's dialogue, the hilarity of words and phrases positioned just right. 

Up next in this gradual journey, I'm not sure: but if it's anything like The Merry Wives, I'm sure to be satisfied.