We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
(8) Snow line
We know that Shakespeare's language can be intimidating at first, but you'll get used to it. (Nobody pops out of the womb being fluent in Elizabethan poetry.) It's true, too, that keeping track of all the disguises and deception in The Taming of the Shrew can be tricky. That said, the play is totally manageable and a lot of fun to read once you figure out what's going on. The toughest thing about Shrew (and believe us when we say this is just as true for Ph.D.s as it is for fifteen-year-olds), is deciding for yourself how you feel about the play's attitude and representation of social inequality and the violence directed at Kate. If you can do that, you're set.