Where to Start with Shakespeare: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Shakespeare — whether to begin with Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, or A Midsummer Night's Dream. A complete reading guide to Shakespeare's plays.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is the most celebrated writer in the English language — the playwright and poet whose work has been performed continuously for four hundred years and whose understanding of human nature, whose command of language, and whose formal inventiveness remain unmatched. His thirty-seven plays range from tragedy to comedy to history to romance; his 154 sonnets are among the finest lyric poems in English. He is also, for many readers, the most intimidating starting point in all of literature — the language requires adjustment, and the cultural weight can feel paralyzing. The correct approach is to start small, read with help, and remember that Shakespeare wrote for a popular audience who laughed, gasped, and cheered at his work.
Where to Start: Romeo and Juliet
The most accessible starting point — the most immediately comprehensible plot, the most famous story, and the most quotable poetry. Two young people from feuding families fall in love and are destroyed by the hatred between their families and by a series of unlucky accidents. The play’s emotional simplicity — this is a straightforward love story — allows first readers to follow Shakespeare’s language without losing the plot thread, and its most famous speeches (‘What’s in a name?’, ‘But soft, what light through yonder window breaks’) are the most familiar in all of Shakespeare. Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film is an excellent introduction for reluctant readers.
Hamlet
Shakespeare’s greatest play — and the one that repays the most sustained engagement. Prince Hamlet learns that his father has been murdered by his uncle Claudius, who has married Hamlet’s mother and become king. The play follows Hamlet’s agonised, digressive response to this knowledge: his feigned madness, his philosophical meditations on death and action, his cruel treatment of Ophelia, and his eventual, costly revenge. The play raises questions — about the nature of action, the relationship between thought and deed, the reliability of evidence, the meaning of mortality — that have produced centuries of critical debate. Every reading finds something new.
‘To be or not to be’ is the most famous speech in English literature; it is also one of the most profound meditations on the relationship between thought and action ever written.
Macbeth
The most immediate and most propulsive of the great tragedies — and the best starting point for readers who want to read the tragedies before they are ready for Hamlet. Macbeth, a brave Scottish general, hears a prophecy from three witches that he will become king; his wife, who has ‘ambition enough for both of them,’ goads him into murdering King Duncan. The play unfolds with extraordinary speed — it is the shortest of the tragedies — and its account of how ambition corrupts and how guilt destroys is as immediate as it was in 1606. The sleep-walking scene is among the most powerful in all of theatre.
King Lear
Many critics’ choice as Shakespeare’s greatest work — and the most demanding of the four great tragedies. Lear, an elderly king, divides his kingdom between his three daughters based on their protestations of love, disowning the daughter (Cordelia) who loves him most but will not flatter him. The play traces his disintegration — physical, mental, and cosmic — as his two elder daughters strip him of his court and dignity, leaving him on a heath in a storm. The play is Shakespeare’s most extreme: its suffering is almost unbearable, its comedy (the Fool, Edgar’s Poor Tom) is genuinely funny, and its ending is the most devastating in all of drama.
Othello
The most intimate of the great tragedies — a domestic rather than political catastrophe. Iago, a soldier who believes he has been passed over for promotion, manipulates Othello — a great Moorish general in the Venetian army — into believing that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful. The play is Shakespeare’s most concentrated: three characters, a jealousy that develops over days, and an ending of total devastation. Iago is arguably the most compelling villain in Shakespeare — intelligent, self-aware, and apparently motiveless in his cruelty.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The most immediately enjoyable Shakespeare for readers who prefer comedy — a play about the chaos of love, in which four Athenian lovers are pursued by magic in a forest while a group of working-class men rehearse a play and a fairy queen falls in love with a man who has been given the head of a donkey. The comedy works on every level: as wordplay, as physical farce, and as a meditation on the irrationality of love. The most joyful Shakespeare; the easiest to read; the best introduction to his comic mode.
The Tempest
Shakespeare’s last solo play — and the one most frequently read as his farewell to the stage. Prospero, a magician and former Duke of Milan, has been marooned on an island with his daughter Miranda and two servants: Ariel (a spirit) and Caliban (a creature of the island). When his enemies sail past, he raises a tempest and brings them to the island. The play is Shakespeare’s most self-conscious about theatrical illusion, and its final speech — Prospero breaking his staff and asking the audience to release him with their applause — is one of the most moving endings in all of drama.
Reading Shakespeare
The most important single piece of advice: do not read Shakespeare unaided. Use an edition with facing-page translations or glosses (the Folger editions are excellent for this), or read alongside a guide, or watch the play performed before reading it. The language becomes natural with exposure — most readers find that by their third or fourth play, they are reading with real fluency. Start with the plays you are most drawn to; there is no wrong order. The four great tragedies are where Shakespeare’s genius is most fully concentrated; the comedies are where his warmth and wit are most accessible. Both are essential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I start with Shakespeare?
Romeo and Juliet is the most widely recommended starting point for readers new to Shakespeare — the most immediately accessible plot, the most quotable poetry, and the emotional simplicity (a love story with a tragic ending) that allows first readers to follow the language without losing the thread. Macbeth is the best starting point for readers who want a political and psychological thriller; A Midsummer Night's Dream for comedy; Hamlet for anyone ready to engage with Shakespeare's greatest and most complex work from the beginning. Reading Shakespeare alongside a good modern translation or edition with glosses is strongly recommended.
Should I read Shakespeare or watch it performed?
Both, ideally — but watching Shakespeare performed (on stage or in film) is often more immediately rewarding than reading it cold. Shakespeare wrote for performance, not publication: the plays are scripts for actors, and much of what makes them extraordinary (the timing of a joke, the weight of a silence, the physical comedy of the clowns, the emotional register of a soliloquy) becomes clear only when performed. A good approach is to watch a film or stage version first, then read the text with that performance in mind. Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films are excellent; the BBC/RSC adaptations are generally reliable.
What is the best edition of Shakespeare to read?
The Arden Shakespeare series (individual plays with extensive notes and commentary) and the Folger Shakespeare Library editions (with facing-page modern translations) are the best editions for general readers. The Folger editions are particularly useful for new readers because the modern translation on the left-hand page allows you to check meaning without losing momentum in the original. The Norton Shakespeare (a single complete volume edited by Stephen Greenblatt) is the best comprehensive edition for readers who want historical context and textual commentary alongside the plays.
What is the correct reading order for Shakespeare?
Shakespeare's plays do not need to be read in any particular order — each is self-contained, and the categories (comedies, histories, tragedies, romances) represent different modes rather than a sequence. Recommended starting points by mode: Tragedies — begin with Macbeth (shortest and most propulsive), then Hamlet, then Othello, then King Lear. Comedies — begin with A Midsummer Night's Dream, then Much Ado About Nothing. Romances — The Tempest. Histories — Henry IV Part 1. The four great tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear) are where Shakespeare's genius is most fully on display.
