Anyone Else Having Problems With the Language?

This Shakespearian language is really getting to me. I’m not understanding a lot of things and that’s not good. Homer was easier to read than this and Homer wrote his book thousands of years before Shakespeare did. I understand the general idea of what the characters are saying but specific details are hard to analyze and comprehend. The side of each page offers help but it doesn’t help me where I need some summary or some sort.

I was so eager to read this book but now, I’m so disappointed. My dad says I should read the text more slowly and the phrases that I don’t understand, I should write it down and try to explore it. I tried that for Scene 3 of Act I and believe me, it didn’t work at all. Reading it slower made me forget what I was reading in the beginning and I felt like I was this mentally retarded person. I’ve never felt as dumb reading a text as I have now.

Don’t get me wrong, the language is really beautiful and just reading it feels as if you’ve stepped back into time. I’m learning French at school and when my teacher speaks to us in French, it sounds so beautiful. I could listen to it forever. The sad part is that I only understand a handful of what she’s saying but soon as the weeks went by, I slowly got the hang of what she was saying. I’m new to this type of writing because I’ve never read anything written by Shakespeare before. I’m certain that if I give myself some more time, I’ll be able to get the hang of this writing just as I did with French. The words make you just want to say it aloud just to hear the sound of it. It makes me sound like those aristocratic girls, I mean ladies, from the 16th century depiction movies that you see on television.

But then again, it isn't Shakespeare's fault that he writes just how people back then spoke. I suppose I'm being biased-if that's the right word to describe it.