By Hook or By Crook: An Introduction
For several legitimate and many illegitimate reasons, I have, for much of my adult life, not been much of a fan of Shakespeare’s works. The illegitimate reasons have much to do with a latent contrarianism; I simply got tired of hearing people who don’t know much about anything talk about Shakespeare as if he is the paragon of English literary culture. The legitimate reasons have much more to do with particular aspects of the plays themselves, which we may find reason to delve into further as we go…
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that the lionization of Shakespeare was at least partially prompted by a search for an English national spirit in the early modern era, and his worldwide propagation was a result of British imperialism. Regardless of these historical factors, his widespread canonization is such that any literary scholar looking to get anything out of their readings would be well served to have at least a passing familiarity. You simply can’t read any (good) book of general literary criticism without having even minor Shakespeare works referenced as if you should have already read them twice over. I am not just talking about Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, or Midsummer Night’s Dream — all of which I’ve read, although some of them so long ago that I may as well not have — but works like Troilus & Cressida, which just last the other night was extemporized extensively upon in a book I was reading by William Empson.
So I figured that it would serve me well to just read them all and have it done with, so that never again will I be left without a frame of reference as someone rambles on about Shakespeare. This strategy worked wonders for me when it came to The Bible and the complete works of Plato, which are significantly longer and (likely) more tedious.
Along the way, I may as well try my best to gain some sort of appreciation for Shakespeare, in any way I can. And so, I have developed this series, entitled
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK: A HATER’S QUEST TO ENJOY SHAKESPEARE
I was hoping that “by hook or by crook” would turn out to a phrase coined by Shakespeare, of which I felt I there was above a 50/50 shot, but it was unfortunately first recorded two centuries earlier by a man named John Wyclif. However, being one of my favourite phrases to use throughout my daily life, I’ve decided to persevere with the title until or unless God blesses me with a better one.
I will be trying not to focus too much on Shakespeare’s reputation, i.e. whether he is over- or under-rated. It’s just not that interesting to me, or you, and I’d rather just reckon with the plays themselves. On the same note, I won’t be dealing with questions of authorship, mostly because I find them to be very boring. Shakespeare’s biography is a non-entity to me; as far as I am concerned, William Shakespeare as a concept is nothing more than an amalgam of the plays I am about to read.
My goal, as is always the case, is to enjoy the work. I begin every piece of literature with this goal; however, my attempts are far too commonly thwarted by the pernicious efforts of authors to offend my personal taste. I don’t feel that I have anything to gain anymore from disliking Shakespeare, so I’m going to do my best here. Of course, this is no guarantee that this plan will work.
I will be reading the plays in chronological order, according to one of several constructed chronologies chosen apparently at random by the editors of the Wikipedia page, “Chronology of Shakespeare’s plays.” At least, I will be doing so until or unless circumstance (or personal whim) causes me to deviate from that order for some reason or another.
I think that is just about enough ado about all that.