《莎士比亚故事集》

Once I attended a speech given by a professor from a university in Hong Kong. When we introduced ourselves as BE majors, he asked, “You study English, how many foreign classics have you read? Who is your favorite author?” We all were in silence. But by that time, I made a decision that I would read Shakespeare at least while I am still in university. And the first book I chose myself is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. For Shakespeare, his tragic works may be more famous than comedies. But I prefer comedy. The moment I opened A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I thought it’s a tragedy. But it seems that all happiness come after sadness. As Yu Qiu Yu once said, “Tragedy is not great, neither is comedy, but those tragicomedy that let people read it over with tears and laughter. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, who are manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. I found some common points among Shakespeare’s masterpieces, especially his love stories——the protagonists rebel against the traditional established practices and they look forward to a peaceful and equitable world; they even sacrifice their lives to achieve this dream. Hermia dose so. She refuses to follow her father Egeus’s instructions to marry Demetrius, whom he has chosen for her. Juliet and Romeo also do in the same way, they die together for their love.