Illiam Shakespeare is my favorite author. But it had not always been so. In my initial acquaintance with the author, I was greatly repelled by the highly contrived plots of his dramas and the improbable conduct of his characters could not stomach Lear's abandoning of his dearest daughter Cordelia as it seemed to me that no sane parson would disinherit a daughter for professing love for her husband.
Nor could I believe the story of Orlando in "As You Like It" with itshackneyed beginning showing discord between two brothers, escape of Orlando to Forest of Arden, his chance meeting with another disinherited Princess Rosalind, the subsequent change Of heart of his brother and happy family reunion accompanied by celebration of marriages Of the young protagonists. I found it no better than a run of the mill Bollywood film. In spite of my aversion to Shakespeare, I could not abandon studying his books as I had to pass and do well in my examinations. However as I matured and had first hand experiences of the people and the world ,l gradually came to appreciate the true to life portraits and deep insight into the human psyche found not only in "King Lear" and "As You Like It" but also in most of his other tragedies, comedies and histories.
I slowly overcame my resistance to Shakespeare's improbable narratives and progressively developed a lasting admiration for his mastery of portrayal of the universal man and woman. I find new meanings and discover new beauties in every successive reading of the same play of Shakespeare. I am enthralled by the great variety of human portraits found in Shakespeare's plays. From highly philosophical Hamlet to farcical Falstaff, there is hardly a character type which is missing from Shakespeare's repertoire of human species. Which author has created a more vivacious girl than Rosalind whose irrepressible sense of humor brightens up and radiates to every inhabitant of the Forest of Arden. Nobody can surpass
Melancholy Jacques in cynicism who could not find anything cheerful in all the seven stages of life from infancy to old age , where the infant mules and pukes in his nurse's arms, the schoolboy is unwilling to go to school , even the young man has nothing exciting in store as he is always sighing like a furnace and this unpromising
