Humor is the hardest thing to understand in a foreign language coming from a foreign culture. Shakespeare's language and times are foreign to us now although related to us. As a result it is much harder to read the comedies than it is to read the tragedies or the poetry. We don't get the jokes and have to rely much more on the notes in a good edition to explain them to us.

That said, when you see the play staged, the acting makes some of the humor come alive even where the specific word play is missed. So like watching an opera, if one studies the play first and then sees it performed, one appreciates it more.

I'm taking a short class about the play and have only had the first of five sessions so I'll be back to add to this review. I did like the first Act. Love is the strangest of our emotions. Hate, revenge, envy, fear, pride -- they are all much more straightforward. There is no mystery about them. There is about Love and Shakespeare seems to have a lot to say about it in this play that is worthwhile.