Tip #1: Read a Plot Summary

Will this ruin the story? I guess, maybe. A little. But honestly, Shakespeare’s plays are not great because their conclusions are unpredictable. Just the opposite really. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare pretty much gives away the whole story in the first few lines.

Listen, Shakespeare follows the conventions of drama laid out by Aristotle. He wrote histories—and people who know history know how those stories end. He wrote comedies. And comedies always end happily—by definition. The handsome dude always ends up with the pretty girl. And he wrote tragedies. And we know how they end too. The protagonist, and most of the important characters always end up dying. Tragically, of course.

So, don’t worry about the end getting spoiled. It’s more important that you are able to follow along with the story. Trust me. You’ll find that these plays are worth reading over and over. You’ll get more out of them long after you already know the story.

So, summaries. My wife likes to read the versions of Shakespeare written for children by Charles and Mary Lamb. It’s called Tales from Shakespeare.

But if you don’t have easy access to that book, there are plenty of free summaries on the internet. My two favorite sites for quick overviews are SparkNotes and Lit Charts. Both of these sites offer way more than just summaries too. You might find them really useful as you work your way through Shakespeare.

Here’s one sort of tip within a tip for you, too. If you feel like it’s cheating to read a summary first, then try this. Try reading a scene without a summary. See how much you can understand THEN go to Spark Notes or Lit Charts and see how close you were. Just another way to do it if you want to challenge yourself.