My Top 5 Favourite Lines from Shakespeare

I saw a question on Quora asking readers to list their favourite lines from Shakespeare. Here's what I came up with!

Picking just five favourite lines from the Bard of Avon is no easy feat. Shakespeare was definitely a genius. There are two qualities of his writing that have made him immortal and cause his works to resonate with us today. He draws extensively from the literary canon of Western Culture. His works are rich in allusions to Greek mythology and the Bible, which means he mastered his understanding of what impacts our collective cultural consciousness. The more significant factor that caused his works to endure for so long is that he had a profound understanding of human nature that made him way ahead of his time. He was a psychologist before psychology was even considered a legitimate field of study. The emotions that his characters go through are very easy for readers to relate with. I feel like I’ve encountered a lot of wisdom in his writing that reminds me of my own relationships and experiences and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this.

After a lot of thinking, I’ve managed to narrow down my list of favourite Shakespeare quotes. I’ll explain why I chose each one in particular.

EDGAR:

Yet better thus, and known to be contemn’d,

Than, still contemn’d and flatter’d, to be worst.

King Lear (4.1.1–2).

In this part in the play, Edgar is a wanted man because his half-brother has convinced everyone that he is plotting against his father’s life. Edgar disguises himself as a beggar and sets out on his own to avoid getting caught. He’s basically saying that it’s better to be openly hated in this wretched state than it is to be falsely flattered and secretly hated. This really resonated with me and reinforces one of the major themes in the play, that of deceit and trickery with smooth words. Goneril and Regan used the same kind of flattery on Lear. We’ve all had ‘fake friends’, people who insist that they love us but then ‘snake’ us when we least expect it. This is why the characters in King Lear evoke so much pity within the audience. Gloucester, Edgar’s father, also looses his eyes before he can see through lies!

HAMLET:

The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right!

Hamlet (1.5.190–191).

From the very first act, the whole audience knows that Hamlet is a dead man. When Hamlet is called upon by the ghost of his father to avenge him by killing his uncle Claudius, he doesn’t like it one bit. He knows that this fate has been thrust upon him but he hates the idea of having to kill, even if it’s for his father. This reminds me of a lot of moral and ethical dilemmas I’ve faced in my life. Hamlet reacts to them the same way I do, by procrastinating and postponing a decision for as long as possible. Instead of immediately acting upon the ghost’s wishes, he first puts on a play, the Murder of Gonzago, and watches his uncle’s reaction to decide if he’s really guilty. He also has the chance to kill Claudius at prayer but then cowers away from the act, making up some excuse about how this would cause Claudius to go to heaven since he would be slain after confessing his sins. Hamlet’s thoughtfulness, compassion, procrastination and indecisiveness are what ultimately lead to his downfall and I fear that I have many of the same traits as him.

OTHELLO:

Then must you speak

Of one that loved not wisely, but too well

Othello (5.2.359–360).

In the end of the tragedy Othello, Iago’s scheme is revealed. The Satanic and Machiavellian character Iago convinced Othello that his wife Desdemona was cheating on him. This eventually caused Othello to smother her with a pillow. In the end, Othello loses his land and status in Cyprus and has to be taken to Venice for his murder trial. The audience is usually shocked by how stupid and easily manipulated he is, but what they fail to realize is what an innocent and pure character he was in the beginning. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, bad things always happen to good people and the stage gets littered with corpses! Othello’s biggest flaw was how trusting and loving he is of others. Unfortunately, I’m sure a lot of us can relate to this, at least as how we were when we were children until we grew up and realized how evil people can be. Othello loved too much and his love blinded him, for nothing makes us angrier than when we feel like someone we love has betrayed us.

CALIBAN:

You taught me language and my profit on’t

Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you

For learning me your language!

The Tempest (1.2.437–439).

Caliban from the Tempest is one of my favourite Shakespeare characters. The inspiration for creating him is obvious. The Elizabethan Era was a time of exploration and change in English society, and stories of the inhabitants of the New World were always popular. Many Native Americans and Africans were captured and put on display in “human zoos” in London, a barbaric and cruel practice that history tries to make us forget. Shakespeare might have glimpsed a Patagonian native, and the dehumanizing spectacle must have left an impression on him. In the play, Caliban worships Setebos, a Patagonian god. Caliban is supposed to be a savage and demonic figure and his name is supposed to sound like ‘cannibal’, but throughout the whole play I can only feel pity for how he is abused and hated by Miranda and Prospero even though he is the native inhabitant of their island. Miranda and Prospero then have the audacity to declare that Caliban should be grateful to them for “civilizing” him. That sounds a lot like what European colonizers would say. Caliban boldly claps back and reminds them he was much better off before they came. He says the only good thing that came from learning their language was knowing how to curse. Being really interested in postcolonial analysis of literature, this quote really stood out to me. Shakespeare was ahead of his time in challenging many Eurocentric ideals for sure, as can be seen by the pity evoked for Caliban. In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare also challenged European standards of beauty by talking about a woman he loved who had curly black hair, a feature that wasn’t really considered ideal in Elizabethan society.

ROMEO:

Did my heart love till now?

Forswear it sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

Romeo and Juliet (1.5.55)

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it again, there is nothing romantic about Romeo and Juliet. It’s a tragedy and a cautionary tale for teenagers rushing into love. There’s no wonder that in psychology there’s the “Romeo and Juliet Syndrome”, which has been very appropriately named. I feel like this line is a great example of what infatuation and lust is. Even though it’s not a good idea to objectify someone and obsess over them like this, I’m sure we can all relate to these kinds of intrusive thoughts. Shakespeare captures the universal feeling of infatuation really well here and I feel like this soliloquy alone would have been enough to secure his place in the literature hall of fame. At the same time, he mocks and ridicules the shallowness of Romeo's love. A great number of his sonnets also focus on a similar idea. The message is to love people in a spiritual way for who they are on the inside rather than just focusing on their appearance.

So there they are, my favourite lines from Shakespeare! It was really fun to give my views on each one.