No fear shakespeare (discussion, summary)

[DivronOrl]

I am reading No Fear Shakespeare version of The Taming of the Shrew for our class discussion in my Shakespeare class. Would you recommend me to read the modern version or stick to the authentic text of the Bard? Reading the original text is very hard especially that words have undergone semantic shifts. What do you think? Can Sparknotes' NO Fear Shakespeare help me or hinder me from my full understanding of the text?

[Marlow]

Read both. I imagine the point of the class is to read Shakespeare, not a condensed, dummified version of his work. But, because the language is old and challenging, there's nothing wrong with getting some help understanding it.

[DivronOrl]

it's really funny because our professor is allergic of the words sparknotes and internet.

[stepka]

You should probably read the original b/c there is a lot of wordplay in there that you'll miss otherwise--esp in Taming of the Shrew.
However, I think Sparknotes are fine in their place. In other words, go on there and read the complete summary before you tackle the play and then you'll have a better idea of where you're going and that can only help. Also, you may just want to keep the side by side version on another screen on your computer so that you can refer to it but if you have it too handy you'll get lazy and read that instead.

Also, it may seem hard now, but believe it or not, if you keep with it, your brain will start to fall into the rhythm of the language and it will begin to make sense and then you'll even start to think in Shakespearean and if someone is rude to you, you'll pop out with a colorful insult like: "Thou puny milk-livered mammet!"