INTRODUCTION
Dear friends, this thread will not help you score for your
Literature examination or to make you fall in love with Shakespeare
overnight. I will not go into details of the plays because most of
you would have fallen asleep before proceeding to the next scene.
In order to truly enjoy the richness of the plays it is advisable
to read the full text. However such an attempt will surly bore
those who have no love for Shakespeare to tears. (Maybe even to
madness) 
Taking this into consideration, I decided not to post the full text
in the series. If you are interested, you can easily read the full
text from the Internet, or get them from the libraries. You can
also grab a copy of the modern translation from any good
bookshops.
My main intention is to explore the various ways in which the plays
might be relevant to our personal experiences. To do this I will
need you to be creative, to be imaginative and be able to put
yourself into the characters? shoes. I need you to feel the pain,
the anger, the love, etc of the characters. My advice is not to
judge the characters base on your first impression. Try to
understand what they are going through before passing any
judgements. In short, I need you to play the role of Kings, Queens,
young lovers, fools, etc; I need you to be human.
I will first summarize the scenes, follow by my own
interpretations. Most
importantly, I will attempt to relate the events with our own
experiences in the form of question(s). For those
who are familiar with Shakespeare, please feel free to criticize my
interpretations for I am looking forward to a healthy debate. You
can also add in your opinions to enrich the discussion, I will
really appreciate your contributions.
Also please answer the questions
posted (in blue) as my intentions is to set you thinking about
matters that you may have taken for granted. I will
try my best to be as brief as possible. For those who have never
read Shakespeare before, I will suggest you read the summary before
proceeding to my interpretations. Try reading it like a story, have
fun. 
Themes about friendships, marriages, justices, etc are abundant in
Shakespeare's plays. I strongly encourage anyone that is doing
psychology to read them. They are gems waiting to be discovered if
you are willing to give it a try. Turn the stones into gems. You
will realize that they have so much to offer.
I have chosen one of his last plays, i.e. THE WINTER'S
TALE for my first Interactive series. Not
many people are aware about this play. We are more familiar with
his famous plays like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, etc. I
don't think Hollywood will be interested to make a movie out of it.
I am actually taking a great risk in choosing an 'unknown' play to
start off my Interactive series. But I feel that we must give these
'unknown' plays an opportunity to be recognized and appreciated.
Most importantly I need your contributions, after all the key word
here is 'INTERACTIVE'.
Well, hold on tight and let the journey begins... 
