It is unclear why Shakespeare's colleagues decided to compile his plays and bring them to a publisher back in 1623, leading to the publication of the First Folio and bringing together Shakespeare's dramatic works for the first time. Perhaps, they took a chance that his works might gain popularity if more people could read them. Or, they had wanted Shakespeare to be remembered through his works even after his death. Their motivations remain unknown but if they had not done what they did, we would not have known who we know as Shakespeare today. Then, this book that you are now holding, these words that you are now reading would not have existed. It may have been by chance that you are reading this preface - maybe you are browsing in a bookshop, or you have been asked by tutors in school to buy this book. Whatever the reason, chance plays an often underestimated role in our lives just as it had played in bringing Shakespeare's works to us.

While writing this book, there were moments where I became a student all over again, reliving my experiences reading and learning about Shakespeare. My first encounter with Shakespeare's plays took place in high school. I do not remember much from those days but I do remember being taught by two tutors who had vastly different teaching styles. One was constantly over-enthusiastic, always thinking up new ways to dramatise the plays and make them alive for us. The other tutor was much more serious, she never smiled much and always read the plays to us with a straight face. Shakespeare's works are not easy to read, and even harder to teach. But perhaps, the essence of reading literature lies not in how you can read or how you are taught but rather in how you make sense of both, what it all really means to you in the end. As I have learnt from the best of my literature tutors, you should arrive at the end of this book with more questions than answers about Shakespeare and his writings.

In the course of writing this book, I have taken my chances and reflected upon my own challenges reading Shakespeare with the hope that I may make your journey easier yet no less meaningful.

Now, are you ready to take your own chances?

By Chance, The Author