Shakespeare...That is the Question.

We asked a hundred undergraduates: Which Shakespearean play have you read most recently? Rate it on a scalefrom 1 to 10.

Hamlet was the leading most recently read play by a clear margin, with KingLear, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night tied for second. Fifteen of Shakespeare's 37 plays received at 1 east one mention. They included Measure for Measure ("really funny...reminded me of the movie Indecent Proposal," said Allison Ahearn '94) and Henry IV, Pan Two ("a lot more interesting and humorous than I expected a Shakespearean history to be," said Debra Carbonaro '97). While conventional wisdom tells us that Romeo and Juliet is the play most often inflicted on young students, the star-cross'd lovers were only mentioned twice in our survey. Three plays rated a " 10": Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, and Richard III. "Hamlet and Macbeth were really cool," said John Gruener '98.

One reply was a trifle disconcerting. We quote it exactly as we received it on e-mail: "I believe that his tragedy's are more interesting than his comedy's and I did enjoy MacBeth and Julious Ceaser."

One student thought it not indecent to propose aresemblance Twixt the Bard's work and Demi's.