London. Hamlet recites what is probably the most famous monologue in literary history (act 3, scene 1), expressing both his longing for death and his world-weariness: “To be or not to be; That is the question here: / Whether nobler in spirit, the arrows, and slingshots / Endure the raging destiny or / Arming themselves against a sea of plagues / Through resistance they end? die—sleep—”
The beginning has become a dictum. But many more sentences from his plays have become wisdom. Shakespeare has now become a kind of global literary brand. His level of popularity can hardly be surpassed: 123 million Google hits can be found for his name. Much research has been done on his work. Down to the last detail: “Shakespeare’s work contains 138,198 commas, 26,794 semicolons, and 15,785 question marks,” says author and Shakespeare expert Bill Bryson.
But above all his sentences continue to have an effect. A selection of the best-known:
“A fall often leads to greater happiness.” (“Cymbeline,” Act Four, Scene Two)
“Everything has its time.” (“Comedy of Errors”, second act, fourth scene)
“But no one heals his harm by whining.” (“Richard III.”, second act, second scene)
“Well hung is better than badly married.” (“What You Want”, Act I, Scene Five)
“Better a wise fool than a foolish sage.” (“What You Want”, Act One, Scene Five)
“Well roared, lion!” (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Act Five, Scene One)
“To be or not to be; that is the question.” (“Hamlet”, Act III, Scene 1)
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (“Hamlet, Act I, Scene Four)
“Hollow pots have the loudest sound.” (“Henry V.”, fourth act, fourth scene)
“Life is but a walking shadow.” (“Macbeth”, fifth act, fifth scene)
“Poor and merry is rich and over-rich.” (“Othello”, Act III, Scene 3)
“How poor are they that have no patience!” (“Othello”, second act, third scene)
“Where words are scarce, they carry weight.” (“Richard II.”, second act, second scene)
“There are more things in heaven and earth than your school wisdom dreams of.” (“Hamlet”, Act One, Scene Five)
“For nothing in itself is neither good nor bad; thinking makes it so.” (“Hamlet”, Act Two, Scene Two)
“We know well what we are, but not what we can become.” (“Hamlet”, Act Four, Scene Five)
“Hamlet”, the first
Hamlet
To be or not to be; that is the question:
Whether nobler in spirit, the arrows, and slingshots
Endure the raging fate or,
Armed against a sea of plagues,
By resistance, they end? die – sleep –
Nothing else! And knowing that a sleep
The heartache and the thousand thrusts end,
The inheritance of our flesh is a goal
To be wished sincerely. die – sleep –
Sleep! Maybe dream too! Yes, there it is:
What dreams may come in sleep,
When we loosen the earthly entanglement,
That forces us to stand still. This is the consideration
Misery makes one grow old.
For who endures the mockery and scourge of the times,
The pressure of the mighty, the abuse of the proud,
Scorned love torment, delay of justice,
The arrogance of the offices and the disgrace,
Which proves worthless silent merit,
If he could retire himself
With just a needle? Who bears burdens
And groaned and sweated under the hardships of life?
Only that the fear of something after death
The undiscovered country of the district
No wanderer returns, the will errs,
That we prefer the evils that we have
Endure than flee to unknown.
So consciousness makes cowards out of us all;
The innate color of the resolution
The paleness of thought is sickened;
And the company, highly targeted and valuable,
Distracted by this consideration,
Thus losing the name of the plot. – Quiet!
The lovely Ophelia! – Nymph, close
Include all my sins in your prayers!
This is happening right now:
Hamlet thinks he is alone somewhere in the castle of the Danish royal family. So whenever this famous monologue is recited and Hamlet holds a skull in his hand, it’s just a symbol of transience – and not stolen from an open grave. In short, Hamlet’s power-hungry uncle Claudius murdered his brother, the king, and then married the widow. That’s quite a lot for a young man.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
Apart from the fact that the scenario sounds damn like “House of Cards” or CDU/CSU intrigues: Hamlet is often portrayed as an indecisive youth who mourns and is not quite himself. But it all becomes much clearer when you look at it from a medical perspective: The whole thing is an endless list of depression symptoms. The hole in which Hamlet was sitting was so deep that he would certainly be shot with psychotropic drugs today.
“Hamlet”, the second
Hamlet
O host of heaven! Earth! –
What else? Am I calling hell?
Oh fie! Stop, stop, my heart!
Ye my sinews, do not grow old at once,
Hold me up! commemorate your
Yes, you poor spirit, as long as memory lives
In the destroyed ball here. commemorate your
Yes, I want from the Tablet of Remembrance
erase away all foolish stories,
From books all sayings, all pictures,
The traces of the past, which there
The youth enrolled and observation;
And your commandment shall live all alone
In the book of my brain, unmixed
With less worthy things.
This is happening right now:
Hamlet, the good prince of Denmark, converses with a ghost. His father’s spirit. Vulgo: He remembers his father. And wants to make sure, like everyone who mourns someone, that these headshots don’t fade. The whole thing with the “tablet of remembrance”, “erase away”, “write in” is to be taken literally: In ancient times, notes were scratched into wax-coated clay tablets, then the next layer of wax was applied, voilà, tabula rasa. The smartass reference: Plato has Socrates and Theaetetus talk about these clay tablets to explain how memory works (here).
What is that supposed to tell us today?
It is still the perfect description of how memory and remembering work “in this distracted globe” called the brain: Moments are saved as traces of the past. And we prioritize what is important and what isn’t, repress “foolish stories” and burdensome things, and remember the beautiful more easily.
“The storm”
Prospero:
“As for this creature of darkness/
so I must confess that it belongs to me.”
This is happening right now:
The whole thing has a Robinson Crusoe setting: Years ago, Prospero and his daughter were stranded on some island and made the actual ruler of the island, Caliban, his slave. Because that’s what you do when you invade somewhere as a colonial master. In the end, everyone sails back to Milan.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
It’s a classic case that shows how much the perspective on a piece changes when the social context changes. “The Tempest”, today, can actually only be read as an image of a colonial drama – staging Caliban as a “noble savage” (Shakespeare read Montaigne), even as a monster (Caliban is an anagram of cannibal), is yesterday’s news. In the original, Prospero says: “This thing of darkness I / acknowledge mine” – skin color and slave belong together here. That was not only the case in colonial times: everyday racism is nothing else.
“Romeo and Juliet”
Julia:
what is a name What rose means to us
Whatever it was called, it would smell sweet;
So Romeo, even if his name was different,
He would have the delicious salary
Preserve what his is untitled.
O Romeo, discard your name,
And for the name that is not your self
take mine whole!
Romeo:
[ stepping closer. ] I’ll take your word for it.
Call me darling, that’s how I’m newly baptized
And no longer wants to be Romeo.
This is happening right now:
Yes, you guessed it, it’s the balcony scene in the Capulets’ courtyard. Juliet up at the window, Romeo down in the bushes. One knows. (Fun fact: The word balcony doesn’t even appear in Shakespeare’s text. Not even in the stage directions. Apparently, the Italian “balcone” didn’t even exist in his day. Why then does everyone make a pilgrimage to this balcony in Verona? Good question.)
What is that supposed to tell us today?
We live in an era of constant self-invention. Instagram, Twitter, all this is pure self-marketing. A name? Pff, it’s an image thing. And at worst fraught with prejudice. As Romeo Montague you would have bad chances today ( ). This dialogue is a feast for friends of semiotics: which sign is used to designate something is ultimately arbitrary.
Where to quote it:
Want to get past some bouncer and insist on being on the guest list? Now please declaim: “What is a name? What we call rose / Whatever it would be called would smell lovely.” You are welcome.
“Sonnet 18”
Should I compare you to a summer day?
He is not so lovely and gentle like you;
After a short time its splendor must fade,
And even in May buds the wind is raging.
Often the eyes of heaven look down too warmly,
His golden course is often darkened,
Because all beauty blooms and fades again,
Is subject to changing fortunes.
Your eternal summer should never run out,
Never flee the beauty that is your own
Death can never gain power over you,
If you’re immortal in my song!
As long as people breathe, eyes see,
Live my song and protect you from offense!
This is happening right now:
His lines are immortal: Shakespeare declares with wide legs that he is so good. You have to do it first. And ok, he was right.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
If a guy comes along today and asks this incredibly rhetorical question: “Shall I compare you to a summer’s day?”, to immediately explain how ephemeral the weather is, and look, it’s getting dark over there again, and anyway, I write such great poetry, that lasts longer than your youthful freshness, and are you really only 35? there can only be one answer: is it still okay?
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the first
Pyramus :
O night so black in color, o wrathful night! O night that is always as soon as the day is over. O night! O night! O night! Oh! Oh! Oh! Heaven! Oh!
Thisbe :
O wall, you’ve often heard my sigh, my most beautiful Pyramus, because you’re so separating from me; My red mouth has often kissed your stone, your stone, covered with clay and hair in you.
Pyramus :
A’ voice I see tu; I want to go to the rift and see if I can’t hear my Thisbe’s face clearly. Thisbe!
This is happening right now:
It’s a piece in a piece. The actors perform Ovid’s love story of Pyramus and Thisbe (How, watt? Here: ) for Theseus and Hypolita (Duke of Athens and his bride) for evening entertainment. And yes, the wall has its own cast member. Theseus previously viewed the list of suggestions as if he were on Netflix, repeated comment: oh no, not that, what else is there? If the dialogue sounds familiar, Shakespeare wrote “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Romeo and Juliet” around the same time.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
Nobody is more sovereign than artists who can poke fun at themselves. What is kitsch today was already kitsch back then, and Shakespeare knew that. To this day there has not been a better parody of the love-sighing “Romeo and Juliet”.
Where to quote it:
At the cinema, please. Right in the middle of the most clichéd kitsch scene in the next romantic comedy. Catharsis and stuff helps. Oh, and why did you end up there again?
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the second
Puck:
If we shadows offend you,
O so believes – and well defended
Are we then -: you all just
Just snoozed here
And looked in night visions
your own brain poetry.
Do you want this childish
that vanished like empty dreams,
Dear sir, don’t despise
Should you see something better soon?
When we mean snake hiss
undeservedly escape,
So promises on honor Droll
Our thanks soon to you;
Is a rogue willing to be called,
If not, how cheap.
Well good night! to end the game
Greet us with warm hands!
This is happening right now:
This is the final scene, a monologue by Puck the troll. After that: curtain. Directly preceding: the little play about Pyramus and Thisbe, seen by Theseus and Hypolita, the Duke of Athens and his almost-married wife. By addressing the audience, Puck tears down the (yes, invisible) “fourth wall” between audience and actors, Motto: Hello, it was all just fake. What happens on stage are only “shadows”, i.e. an image of reality. Nice also: the request for applause.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
This self-referential gimmick, pointing out the fabrication of a work of art in order to blur the lines between original and copy, reality and fiction, is pure pop culture. That meta-meta crime scene “Who am I?” with Ulrich Tukur after Christmas? One-to-one exactly the same choice.
Where to quote it:
At the next conference in the office. Oh come on, there’s only one show here, we all know it.
“King Lear”
King Lear:
Blast, wind, and blast your cheeks! Rage Blast! –
You cataracts and cloudbursts, spew,
Until you drown the towers, drown the roosters!
Ye sulphurous, thought-quick flashes,
Lead the thunderbolt that splits oaks
Singe my white head! you thunder blaring,
Smash the mighty round of the world flat; break
Destroy the forms of nature at once
The germ of creation of the ungrateful man!
Rattle to your heart’s content! Spit fire! flood, rain!
Not rain, wind, lightning, thunder are my daughters:
I will not scold you cruelly, you elements:
I didn’t give you crowns, didn’t call you children,
You are not bound by obedience; atone for it
The horrid lust: Here I stand, your slave,
An old man, poor, miserable, ailing, despised:
And yet I call you servants’ helpers,
Her in league with two wicked daughters
Tower your high battle ranks on one head
As old and white as this. Oh, oh, it’s shameful! –
This is happening right now:
King Lear of Britain takes a breath of fresh air, out and about on the moors. He wants to retire, divide his empire between his three daughters, but he doesn’t know how. He devises a plan to test their loyalty. Stupid: Turns out he can’t rely on his brood. Lear’s state of mind: sour. The right background noise all the time: storm.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
Lear is suffering from old age, rickety, senile – that is the common interpretation. At least that’s how his daughters and co. treat him. The fact that people of retirement age are often treated as if they are not very close or at least not a relevant part of our society is so normal that there is a technical term for it: “Ageism”, discrimination based on age. It’s a miracle that people don’t freak out and yell screaming and screaming murder like Lear.
“Macbeth”
Lady Macbeth:
Even the raven
Duncan’s fateful entrance croaks
Under my roof, it’s hoarse. – Come, you spirits,
You who listen to thoughts of murder profane me,
Fill me from head to toe, full to the brim
With wild cruelty! thickens my blood
Block every way and entrance to mercy,
That no knocking reminders of nature
Paralyzes the grim resolution, still peacefully inhibits
From murder the hand! Come to the woman’s breast,
Drink gall instead of milk, you murder demons,
Wherever you wait in invisible beings
To nature’s calamity! come black night
cloud you with the thickest steam in hell,
That my sharp knife does not see the wound
who struck it, nor the sky,
Seeing through the curtain of darkness, call:
Stop stop! –
This is happening right now:
Macbeth isn’t doing what his wife told him, dammit. Then she has to take action herself to get to the top and replace King Duncan.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
Forget the murder thing: Lady Macbeth’s entire attitude is a #cry for equality. In the original it says “unsex me”, which in German was translated as “desecrate me”, well, rather loosely. Man, woman, these categories simply shouldn’t matter for your career. The ravens have been croaking for so long that they are hoarse.
Where to quote it:
At the next salary negotiation. Otherwise: In this café in Berlin-Mitte, which expels breastfeeding mothers from the house. Gladly with the following postscript, also from Lady Macbeth:
“I suckled and I know
Sweet is it to love the child that I drink;
I should have, while it smiles at me,
The chest torn from the soft jaws
And smashed his head against the wall
I would have sworn it like you swore that.”
“All’s well that ends well”
Now a thousand loved ones of your Lord are waiting,
A mother, a friend, a bride,
A phoenix, an enemy and monarch,
Goddess and leader and queen, counselor, traitor and lover,
Humble ambition and ambitious humility,
Harmonic dissonance, out of tune unison,
And faithful, and sweet disaster: and that’s what he calls
a multitude of good, lovely love children,
Who baptizes Cupid… Now he will…
I don’t know what he will become … God bless him.
This is happening right now:
Skirmishes between Helena, Duchess of Roussillon, and Parolles. She actually has her eye on someone else, but hey, Parolles starts chatting to her about her supposed virginity, well, good: sex talk. For a better understanding: The decisive two lines do not exist in the German version. After Parolles has explained full-bodiedly that sexual inexperience doesn’t get worse over time, he asks very directly: “Will you anything with it?”, ie: “How about it?”. Helena promptly: “Not my virginity yet – /”, so roughly: “Schaumermal”. Then the above passage follows.
What is that supposed to tell us today?
It’s a monologue like a middle finger stretched out. There’s even a verb for what Parolles does. In other words: when men want to explain to women how they have to be, what is right and what is wrong, want to pin them down to a stereotype (mother/girlfriend/bride/counsellor), this is called “mansplaining” today. As long ago as Shakespeare was dead.
What is Shakespeare’s most famous play?
Shakespeare’s most famous plays include the tragedies Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth, as well as the comedies A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing «.
What was so special about Shakespeare’s plays?
Shakespeare has received several awards for his variety of topics and is highly praised as a linguistic genius. He possessed the ability to write down his stories in poetic images. He also turned to poetry. His most famous, the sonnets (sound poems), were later published as a volume.
What makes Shakespeare so famous?
Shakespeare became famous for his plays, which are still performed all over the world today. Some are funny, like the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Why are Shakespeare’s works still well-known today?
On the one hand, he used European influences in his dramas, without which his work would be unthinkable. On the other hand, one can read about ways of thinking and acting in Shakespeare that belong to the cultural core of modern Europe. “Even after 400 years, Shakespeare has not lost its topicality.
Should Shakespeare be read in school?
But there are good reasons to keep reading Shakespeare: Hardly any other literary work is as profound and comprehensive when it comes to the human condition. Above all, Shakespeare’s tragedies reflect almost all the abysses and suffering of human existence.
Should Shakespeare be taught in schools?
Shakespeare – actually compulsory in English lessons. At least that was how it was seen for a few centuries. But in the meantime, numerous American educators are questioning the “bard”.
Why is Hamlet still relevant today?
Hamlet is the first modern intellectual on the stage. His ontological doubts are with us to this day and will continue to be with us. Maybe he really is a world figure: not just a white man from the cultural West, but a global figure of thought.
Is Romeo and Juliet still relevant today?
The story of the two lovers is not fictitious, but is based on a true story in the broadest sense. William Shakespeare was the model of the Strikers and Drangers. Even today, his work has not lost its relevance.
Why is Hamlet timeless?
William Shakespeare was a prolific writer and a gifted theatrical practitioner. His work is timeless because it illuminates the eternally human.
How old is Hamlet?
He is the main character and the title giver of the play. His age is estimated at around 30 years. His father, called “Old Hamlet”, is murdered by Claudius before the story begins. His mother, Queen Gertrude, then married his uncle, Claudius.
Is something rotten in the state of Denmark?
Meanings: something is wrong, something is wrong. Origin: This figure of speech comes from the first act of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet.
Why doesn’t Hamlet become king?
After Hamlet’s murder of Polonius, Claudius banishes his nephew to England, accompanied by his childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They receive a letter from Claudius to the English king, in which Claudius asks him to behead Hamlet.
What are three well-known works by Shakespeare?
Macbeth (tragedy, 1606)
Romeo and Juliet (tragedy, 1597)
Othello (tragedy, 1603)
