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A Frankly Silly Beginner's Guide To Shakespeare

J. Draper

211,285 views

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CORRECTION: The phrase "dead as a doornail" can be traced back much further than Shakespeare, to the 14th-century work "Piers Plowman".

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SHAKESPEARE PLAYS ONLINE:
A YouTube playlist of Shakespeare bits and pieces: Good Shakespeare stuff
Shakespeare's Globe's online player: https://player.shakespearesglobe.com
National Theatre's online player: https://www.ntathome.com/best-of-shak...
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"MI5" by Blue Steel
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
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Sources:
Bevington, D., ed. 2014. The Necessary Shakespeare.
Bowsher, J. & Miller, P. 2009. The Rose and the Globe- playhouses of Shakespeare’s Bankside, Southwark.
Bryson, B. 2016. Shakespeare.
Holden, A. 1999. William Shakespeare: His Life And Work.
Levin, R. 1988. “Shakespearean Defects and Shakespeareans’ Defenses”, in “Bad Shakespeare”: Reevaluations of the Shakespeare Canon, Charney, M., ed.
Tucker, P. 2001. Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach.
Wells, S. 1986. The Cambridge Companion To Shakespeare.

20 Comments

@JDraper Creator 2 weeks ago Pinned

Hello and thank you for watching! Alongside my usual source list in the description, you can read many scans of original Shakespearean documents online! Here are some that are relevant for us:
The First Folio: https://firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Robert Greene's "Greenes Groats-Worth Of Wit": https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_greenes-groats-worth-of_greene-robert_1592
Francis Meres, Shakespeare fan: https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_palladis-tamia-wits-tre_meres-francis_1598
Shakespeare's will: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare-Testament.jpg

And finally, an entire book compiling everything we have about him in document form: https://archive.org/details/shakespearedocum0000dhla

@davidshi451 2 weeks ago

"I read Hamlet, and it's just a collection of famous quotes!"

@GeneCash 2 weeks ago

Fortunately, my Shakespeare/English teacher took great delight in explaining all the in-jokes, slurs, and crude meanings.

@Alevuss92 2 weeks ago

One my professors always wanted to teach an elective called "Shakespeare: Things we wish he didn't write." He has taught Shakespeare lovingly for nearly 60 years and no English department or dean has let him do this!

@aphroditemercury 2 weeks ago

"What up youtube? We're the Wyrd Sisters." is an immaculate intro. Perfection. No notes.

@dominomasked 2 weeks ago

The man knew how to make fetch happen.

@oldasyouromens 2 weeks ago

I got the news one of my best uni friends died yesterday morning. She talked to everyone about everything that went through her head, read constantly, loved humor, wanted to be a voice actor. I remember vividly, on a walk home from class, having to convince her she'd enjoy Shakespeare. Franny, I hope you picked up A Midsummer Night's Dream, and I hope you liked it. I didn't expect you to be gone two years after graduation, I always thought I would see you again.

@Wayzor_ 2 weeks ago

This channel is a:
"precious stone set in the silver sea" Richard II (Act 2, Scene 1)

@natalielang6209 2 weeks ago

So you're saying that the real Shakespeare was the friends he made along the way? 😂😂

Fantastic video! I loved it.

@bjarkih1977 2 weeks ago

A rudimentary knowledge of Shakespeare makes a big difference in understanding the references in many Discworld books.

@tremorsfan 2 weeks ago

Isaac Asimov famously wrote a short story where a scientists invents a machine that pulls Shakespeare into the present day. He decides to take a class in his plays and the teacher gives him an F.

@georgetangen8343 2 weeks ago

Missed a golden opportunity for a "do you bite your thumb at me, sir?" joke at 17:50!

@shantanupanda1650 13 days ago

Shakespeare's friends at droeshouts studio: oi lads what if we did a funny one

@CAP198462 13 days ago

“If J. Draper hath offended think but this and all is mended; that you did but slumber while these shadows did appear”.

@OctopusLady 2 weeks ago

As someone who recently discovered she might actually like Shakespeare (I saw a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream a few months ago and was like, "Wait, this Billy guy is actually kinda funny") I AM SAT FOR THIS.

@kristinthomsen3175 2 weeks ago

One of my biggest pet peeves is all the people trying to tell me he never existed. This is closely followed by he never wrote anything. Thanks for pointing out that we have more information about his birth than Anne Boleyn's.

@TisiphoneSeraph 2 weeks ago

Gotta say this video was brilliant AND hearing pirated Hamlet fucking made it for me.

Watching the suit of armor slowly dismantle in real time had the same tension as that white dress with slowly dripping tomato juice scene. I kept waiting for that shoulder to go.

@henghistbluetooth7882 2 weeks ago

That bit with the freeze frame for two images while third continues to speak, followed by then other two continuing with different dialogue - that was a very nifty bit of planning and editing. Nicely done 😊

@SpAm-AcCoUnT 2 weeks ago

A History of Shakespeare, as Lovingly Publifhed and Performed in a Series of Increasingly Tenuoufly Assembled Coftumes by J. Draper, ESQ

@FlutesAndStrings 2 weeks ago

I went to a school for genius delinquents. My favorite thing in the world for a while was a book called Shakespeare's Insults. How to get genuis delinquents to appreciate literature? Teach them how to roast each other Shakespeare style.