It seems to me Shakespeare needs to be judged in context of the uneasy times he was living in - the uneasy period following the despotism of Henry VIII and the insanity of anti Catholicism which made open criticism of the establishment a dodgy exercise - in the circumstances, I don't think he did too badly
If you saw the magnificent Shakespeare 'War of the Roses' compendium - 'The Hollow Crown, the monarchy can hardly be said to have gotten of lightly

Far from being "clichéd" (lacking in original thought) Shakespeare's writings were original though - all his on work, and beautifully executed
Early this week we saw a filmed live performance of 'Richard II' for the first time
I thought it a poor production - based entirely in one room (a large metal box), with a cast of excellent actors playing multiple parts
Despite the difficulty of following the plot and working out who was who, the beautiful use of language still made the experience an enjoyable one
Jim Carroll