Most people meet Shakespeare in a classroom, under fluorescent lights, with a grade hanging over their head. That is the worst possible introduction. I remember slogging through Julius Caesar in tenth grade, convinced I was somehow not smart enough for the language. Years later, I picked up Hamlet on my own terms, on a quiet evening with no quiz waiting, and something clicked. It was genuinely funny. It was heartbreaking. It was nothing like the dutiful, anxious experience I had been told reading Shakespeare was supposed to be.
If you have ever felt intimidated by Shakespeare’s language, you are in good company. Forum threads across r/shakespeare and r/literature are full of bright, curious people asking the same thing: is this supposed to be this hard? The short answer is no. Shakespeare wrote for a live, rowdy audience that included apprentices, merchants, and people who could not read. He wrote to entertain, not to intimidate. The difficulty we feel comes from 400 years of language change and centuries of academic framing layered on top.
This guide is about how to read Shakespeare for pleasure, not for a paper or a grade. I will walk you through seven practical tips, the best plays to start with, a few key terms that unlock everything, and answers to the questions people actually ask. Whether you are a native speaker who was scarred by high school English or a non-native reader curious about the most performed playwright in history, there is a way in that feels good.
Table of Contents
How to Read Shakespeare for Pleasure: 7 Tips That Actually Work
These tips come from a mix of academic advice (including the Oxford English Faculty’s approach), community wisdom from readers who struggled and found their footing, and my own experience going from confused student to someone who genuinely looks forward to Shakespeare. Pick the ones that speak to you and ignore the rest.
1. Ignore the footnotes (at least on the first read)
This is the single most common piece of advice from every credible source, and for good reason. Footnotes and annotations are useful reference tools, but they are terrible reading companions. Every time you drop your eyes to the bottom of the page to decode a word, you break the spell of the scene unfolding in front of you. You stop being an audience member and become a decoder.
On your first read-through, let yourself miss things. If a word is unfamiliar, try to pick up its meaning from context and keep moving. If a line is knotty, let it wash over you and trust that the next line will carry you forward. Shakespeare’s characters repeat themselves, echo each other, and circle back to important ideas. You will get another chance.
Save the footnotes for a second pass, when you already know the shape of the story and want to dig deeper. This flips the whole experience from a chore into a discovery.
2. Read aloud and feel the rhythm of the verse
Shakespeare wrote primarily in blank verse, which means unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. That is a technical way of saying he wrote with a heartbeat-like rhythm: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM. When you read the lines silently, you lose that pulse. When you speak them, even badly, even with no acting ability whatsoever, the rhythm does half the work for you.
Readers on r/shakespeare repeatedly report that reading aloud was the single thing that made Shakespeare click. One person wrote that they finally understood Macbeth when they stopped treating it like a text and started treating it like a script for their own voice. The accent does not matter. The acting quality does not matter. What matters is that your mouth and ears get involved.
Try it with a famous line. Speak this aloud: “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” Notice how the rhythm carries you, how the repetition of “tomorrow” lands differently when spoken than when skimmed. That is the sound Shakespeare built his reputation on.
3. Cherry-pick the passages that move you
One of the most liberating ideas I have encountered is that you do not have to read a Shakespeare play straight through from first line to last. The Oxford English Faculty suggests reading small sections, and they are right. A Shakespeare play is not a novel where every sentence builds on the last. It is a sequence of scenes, many of which stand powerfully on their own.
If you are struggling with a history play full of political maneuvering, skip to the soliloquies and the emotional high points. Read Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech on its own. Read Mercutio’s Queen Mab monologue from Romeo and Juliet and let it dazzle you. Read the “St. Crispin’s Day” speech from Henry V and feel your pulse quicken.
Cherry-picking is not cheating. It is how many people first fall in love with Shakespeare. You build a collection of passages that resonate, and over time, your curiosity pulls you back to fill in the gaps.
4. Think like a director: stage it in your mind
Shakespeare’s plays contain almost no stage directions. He left the blocking, the lighting, the tone, and the physical comedy to the actors and directors who would bring his words to life. When you read, you get to be the director. This is not a limitation. It is an invitation.
As you read a scene, picture it happening in a physical space. Where are the characters standing? Who is listening and who is hidden behind an arras? When Iago whispers poison into Othello’s ear, how close is he standing? When the lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream stumble through the forest, what does the moonlight look like?
This mental staging turns abstract words into living drama. It also explains moments that seem strange on the page. Why does a character suddenly change tone? Maybe someone just entered the room. Why is a line repeated? Maybe it is being shouted across a stage. Treat the text as a blueprint for something happening in front of you, not as a puzzle to be solved on paper.
5. Build a character family tree before you start
This is a tip I rarely see outside of the BBC’s reading guide, and it makes a bigger difference than you might expect. Shakespeare’s plays are full of characters, and many of them are related by blood, marriage, allegiance, or rivalry. When you lose track of who is on whose side, the plot stops making sense.
Before you start reading, grab a piece of paper and sketch out the key characters and their relationships. You do not need a detailed analysis. Just jot down names, a one-word role (king, fool, rival, love interest), and lines connecting them. You can find plot summaries on SparkNotes or the Folger Library website to help you build this map without spoilers.
Keep this family tree next to you as you read. When a new name appears, add it. When two characters turn out to be siblings or enemies, draw the line. This simple visual reference saves you from the confusion that derails so many first-time readers, especially in the histories and tragedies where political relationships drive everything.
6. Use modern translations as a bridge, not a crutch
Resources like No Fear Shakespeare (from SparkNotes) and LitCharts present Shakespeare’s original text side by side with a modern English translation. Some purists look down on these tools, but I think that attitude does more harm than good. If a modern translation gets you reading and enjoying Shakespeare, it has done its job.
The trick is to use the translation as a bridge rather than a replacement. Read the original line first and try to get the gist. If it is unclear, glance at the modern version for the meaning, then go back and read the original again with that understanding. Over time, you will find yourself needing the translation less and less. Your ear adjusts.
This approach is especially valuable for plays with heavy wordplay or archaic vocabulary. Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Taming of the Shrew are full of jokes that depend on Elizabethan slang. A translation helps you see the humor so you can appreciate the craft rather than feeling locked out of it.
7. Accept that not understanding everything is the point
This might be the most important tip of all, and it comes straight from the Oxford professor’s advice: don’t worry. You will not understand every line. No one does, including scholars who have spent their careers on these texts. Shakespeare’s language is dense with double meanings, topical references, and ambiguities that were probably unclear even to his original audience.
That ambiguity is not a flaw. It is a feature. When Shakespeare writes something that can be read two ways, he is often doing it on purpose. The uncertainty is where the depth lives. If you wait until you understand every word before you allow yourself to enjoy the play, you will wait forever and miss the pleasure entirely.
Let yourself be confused. Let yourself be moved by a line you cannot fully parse. Let a speech hit you emotionally before you understand it intellectually. That is reading for pleasure. The understanding comes later, in layers, over multiple readings and multiple years. The pleasure can come right now.
Which Shakespeare Plays Should You Start With?
This is the question beginners ask most, and most guides either skip it or give a vague answer. Here is a concrete, opinionated starting path based on what actual readers recommend in forums and what tends to click for newcomers.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the universal recommendation for a reason. It is short, it is a comedy, and it has four interwoven plotlines that include fairies, mistaken identities, and a man who gets turned into a donkey. The language is accessible, the humor is physical and absurd, and you do not need any historical context to enjoy it. Start here.
Romeo and Juliet is another strong entry point. You already know the story, which removes the burden of following the plot. That frees you to focus on the language, and the language is extraordinary. The balcony scene, the Queen Mab speech, the final tomb scene: these are passages that reward re-reading for a lifetime.
Macbeth is the best first tragedy if you want something dark and propulsive. It is one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays. It moves fast. It has witches, murder, ghosts, and a protagonist whose ambition devours him. The language is vivid and direct, with some of the most quotable lines in English literature.
What should you avoid as a beginner? King Lear and The Tempest are magnificent but dense, and they reward experience. The history plays (Henry IV, Richard III) require you to keep track of political factions and family lines, which can overwhelm a first-time reader. Save those for when you are already hooked.
If you are curious about the sonnets, they are a completely different and equally rewarding entry point. Each sonnet is a self-contained 14-line poem, so there is no plot to lose. Start with Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) or Sonnet 130 (“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”), which is a funny, affectionate takedown of conventional love poetry.
Quick Definitions: Three Terms That Unlock Everything
A handful of terms come up constantly when people discuss Shakespeare. Knowing them removes a layer of intimidation and helps you notice what is happening on the page.
Blank verse: Unrhymed poetry written in a regular rhythm. Most of Shakespeare’s plays are written in blank verse, which gives them their musical quality without the sing-song feel of rhyme.
Iambic pentameter: A specific rhythm pattern with five beats per line, each beat consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one (da-DUM). It mimics the natural cadence of English speech, which is why Shakespeare’s lines feel alive when spoken aloud.
Soliloquy: A speech delivered by a character who is alone on stage, speaking their inner thoughts directly to the audience. These are the most intimate moments in Shakespeare. Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” and Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” are soliloquies.
Tips for Non-Native English Speakers
If English is not your first language, Shakespeare presents an extra layer of challenge, but it is absolutely surmountable. Forum users who learned English as a second or third language report that a few strategies made a dramatic difference.
Use side-by-side translations in your native language alongside the English text, the same way native speakers use No Fear Shakespeare. Watch a film adaptation with subtitles in your language first, then read the play with the story already in your mind. Start with plays based on stories you may already know from your own culture, since many of Shakespeare’s plots draw on shared European folk traditions. The language will stretch you, and that stretching is part of the reward.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to enjoy reading Shakespeare?
The key to enjoying Shakespeare is to stop reading for total comprehension and start reading for experience. Ignore the footnotes, read passages aloud to feel the rhythm, cherry-pick the scenes that interest you, and accept that not understanding every line is completely normal. Start with an accessible comedy like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and let pleasure lead the way.
How to properly read Shakespeare?
There is no single proper way, but a reliable approach is: read a brief plot summary first, build a character reference sheet, read the original text aloud to catch the rhythm, and use a modern translation as a bridge when needed. Read in small sections rather than forcing yourself through the whole play at once, and revisit passages that move you.
How do you say I love you in a Shakespearean way?
Shakespeare expressed love in countless ways. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says ‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.’ Juliet says ‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep.’ A general Shakespearean phrase for love might be ‘I am thine own,’ meaning I am entirely yours.
Was Shakespeare LGBTQ?
Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets include many addressed to a ‘Fair Youth,’ a young man the speaker expresses deep love and desire for. Sonnets 1 through 126 are dedicated to this male figure, while sonnets 127 through 152 focus on a ‘Dark Lady.’ Scholars have long debated the nature of these relationships. Some read the Fair Youth sonnets as evidence of bisexual or same-sex desire, while others view them through the lens of Renaissance friendship conventions. The question remains open and is a subject of ongoing scholarly discussion.
Is reading Shakespeare supposed to be hard?
Reading Shakespeare involves a real learning curve because the language is 400 years old, but it is not supposed to feel like suffering. If you are struggling, you may be reading the wrong play, relying too heavily on footnotes, or approaching it with an academic mindset. Switch to an easier play, read aloud, and give yourself permission to enjoy the parts you understand without stressing about the parts you do not.
Conclusion
Learning how to read Shakespeare for pleasure is really about unlearning the habits that made it feel like work. Close the annotated edition. Stop chasing total comprehension. Pick up a play that sounds interesting, read it with your voice, and let the parts you do not understand sit alongside the parts that stop you in your tracks.
Shakespeare has survived for over four centuries because his works are alive. They work on a stage, they work on a page, and they work in your own hands when you give them room to breathe. You do not need a degree, a teacher, or a study guide to start. You need a play, an evening, and the willingness to enjoy yourself.
Pick one. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is waiting, and it is funnier than anyone told you it would be.