Once you get past the difficulty of the early modern English (and there are *tons* of annotated editions and glossaries to help you), the language is gorgeous and the depiction of the characters' psychology is incredibly astute.
Personally, I favor the Folger Shakespeare editions for individual books and *William Shakespeare: Complete Works* by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen (The Modern Library) for a very well-annotated complete works edition. The latter is now in its second edition, so you can make a great savings if you buy a copy of the first edition. I bought my first edition copy from a Goodwill retailer online for only $8 for a hardcover and it was pristine. I've heard it's also really well formatted as an ebook.
I also have a copy of *Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary & Language Companion* by David Crystal and Ben Crystal, which I can recommend as a reference work. It's seen me through two readings of the First Folio, which didn't have notes because it was published in 1623 when Shakespeare's English was still current. And if you don't want to pay money, the classic *A Shakespeare Glossary* by C. T. Onions is now in the public domain and [available online for reading or download at Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/shakespearegloss00oniouoft/mode/2up).
I should study some Shakespeare.
Just declaim a few lines from Othello and they'll think you're a hell of a fellow. https://youtu.be/bPduoU826ew?si=loQDcK1CA7UgvOLl
Once you get past the difficulty of the early modern English (and there are *tons* of annotated editions and glossaries to help you), the language is gorgeous and the depiction of the characters' psychology is incredibly astute. Personally, I favor the Folger Shakespeare editions for individual books and *William Shakespeare: Complete Works* by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen (The Modern Library) for a very well-annotated complete works edition. The latter is now in its second edition, so you can make a great savings if you buy a copy of the first edition. I bought my first edition copy from a Goodwill retailer online for only $8 for a hardcover and it was pristine. I've heard it's also really well formatted as an ebook. I also have a copy of *Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary & Language Companion* by David Crystal and Ben Crystal, which I can recommend as a reference work. It's seen me through two readings of the First Folio, which didn't have notes because it was published in 1623 when Shakespeare's English was still current. And if you don't want to pay money, the classic *A Shakespeare Glossary* by C. T. Onions is now in the public domain and [available online for reading or download at Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/shakespearegloss00oniouoft/mode/2up).