Every time someone tells me they hate Shakespeare (which is frequently, bc people who hate Shakespeare r usually very proud of it and they need to tell me immediately when they learn that I'm a Shakespeare actor) I enact a sort of self contained stoic ritual where I remind myself that I do not need to be defending the most read and lauded and hegemonic English writer of all time even though I KNOW that they've only half-read Romeo and Juliet when they were 14 in a lame English class and formed a grudge and never changed their opinion. I have that knowledge and I allow it to wash over me and leave me undisturbed