If you're shying away from Shakespeare because you aren't native English speaking, try reading the play in your native language first (so you really know the story) and then in English (to appreciate the original poetry). That and watching adaptations, like Lauren suggested, helped me enjoy Shakespeare very much. :)

“Wasn’t designed to be read, it was designed to be performed “ .. love that

Great tips. Another great resource I found for my Shakespeare reading is the "Chop Bard" Podcast. The guy who runs it is a trained actor who basically reads the plays out (some alone and some with other actors) and gives commentary alongside it. I am currently making my way through the backlist. He has done Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, King Lear, all four of the Hollow Crown plays and is currently doing The Winter's Tale. And in between there are also some Episodes on acting and teaching and women in Shakespeare etc. Another fun Shakespeare podcast is "The Pendent Shakespeare aka the Wild Bill Variety Show" where they are reading Shakespeare with a full cast in a sort of wild wild west style.

You have done a great job !!! I am a senior citizen who always wanted to understand Shakespeare. You have been most helpful.

I've recently started studying Shakespeare's work (for fun), and this was really helpful :) thank you

Thank you, this was just the encouragement I needed! Now I'll continue with A Midsummer Night's dream after really enjoying Hamlet.

Thanks Lauren. Reading a lot of plays over Skype during lockdown and trip up with Shakespeare. This helped!

I have found audiobooks (especially the complete Arkangel Shakespeare series) to be extremely helpful and enjoyable!

I had firmly decided on English as my optinal in UPSC but was really nervous about Shakespeare but thanks to your tip of 'No Fear Shakespeare' which has given me the sunlight of hope. And yes I am a sheer novice when it comes to read any author. Thank You Very Much!

Thank you! I have friends that are much into Shakespeare's works, but this is another way of learning :)

Thanks for the No Fear tip!x

Thanks for this! I did not know about No Fear Shakespeare and I am currently reading Hamlet

Although I hated reading it in school, I understood it more than on my own because of the different parts assigned to different students 🏻‍️

I've also found that rereading the same play by Shakespeare allows a lot more of the story to come out, since you aren't working quite so hard to understand it. While I've only read three of his plays (Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, and Othello) I've read Othello twice, and the second time around I was able to laugh at the jokes as I was reading, instead of laboriously trying to work through the language to get to the jokes, as I'd done that legwork previously. It might take some hard-core Shakespeare fans to follow this advice, however.