When I went to college and majored in English, it was a must to enrol in a major subject called "The Works of William Shakespeare"
which was enough for any regular
college newbie to give up the course. It was a sort of a scare since the name Shakespeare inspired mixed feelings of awe, bewilderment, and confusion. All we knew about Shakespeare was that he was one of the greatest figures in world literature and that after him and the bible no writer can claim to be truly more original. That was why we needed to know him better, much, much better through his works.
We started learning his shortest works, the sonnets, which weren't the best inspiration for us to tackle his bigger works. Why? Because Shakespeare lived in era which used archaic British English and this alone presented difficulties in getting through the meaning of his sonnets as Shakespeare's sonnets were loaded with symbolisms, images, and allusions to people, places, and things that are not within our direct experience.
Getting to his
tragedies was even worst. I mean, the texts were in fine tiny prints and the language was archaic. Now tell me, would you pursue the great man's works with glee? We tried, we labored, but managed only to scratch our heads millions of times for our inability to understand and analyze Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies. Our solution? We got hold of Cliffs Notes and other books written in modern-day English analyzing his works. We knew it wasn't the right way to understand the guy and his works but we had to survive in our classes. We needed to have some teeny-weeny bits of information about the significance of certain scenes in "Macbeth" or "Oedipus, the King", etc.
Of course, I did not miss to go over a few pages of his great works but reading them in their entirety is something I have yet to do. I can understand why some scholars try to avoid Shakespeare like a plague. I can understand why one fellow could not march from college because he just refuses until now to enrol in a Shakespeare's class.
William Shakespeare, must thou continue to confuse thy readers? Me thinks he must be simplified to avoid further Shakespearean allergies.