# Shakespeare quoted in modern media... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2002, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423 "2002-09-07T10:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ssarl_the_happy_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/1 "2002-09-07T10:40:14Z")
Hi! For my English class the teacher has set us a little game: to find as many quotations of Shakespeare in modern media (ie TV and film). I have over 50 now; does anybody want to try and help me increase this? Simply post the quote, the play it is taken from and the show/movie it appears in, and you have my gratitude. The greatest reward of all. 🙂 The more obscure the quotation, the better! Thanks for your help in advance! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/2 "2002-09-07T12:03:19Z")
Sorry. We don’t do people’s homework. Doing the research yourself will benefit you. Give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/3 "2002-09-07T13:01:34Z")
Well, if my kid came home from school with a not-terribly-serious assignment like this, I’d rack my brains to help her. But only for a couple of minutes, and then I’d shrug and say, “Well, do the best you can, it’s just a ‘for fun’ assignment anyway.” So here’s my Google equivalent of that. [http://www.allshakespeare.com/quotes/](http://www.allshakespeare.com/quotes/) Run your eye over these and see if any of them ring a bell, and if so, is it in a “media” context? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/4 "2002-09-07T17:12:48Z")
Hey, **Ssarl the happy Martian** , could you please post the 50 that you found? I’d like to see them. Thanks, The kid in the back row ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/5 "2002-09-07T19:50:33Z")
Try watching **Shakespeare in Love** and **Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette**. You may wish to list these separately to the rest 🙂 (sorry I can’t be more help) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/6 "2002-09-07T21:15:44Z")
General Question is for questions with factual answers. As **Libertarian** said, we don’t do homework assignments. Good hunting and this is closed. **DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/7 "2002-09-08T18:07:57Z")
After thinking about it, I’ve decided to give **Ssarl the happy Martian** the benefit of doubt. Since this is about literature, it belongs in Cafe Society. Off to Cafe Society. **DrMatrix** - General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/8 "2002-09-08T18:16:52Z")
Well, I don’t want to do all your work for you, so I’ll just give you a hint. There’s a fantastic one in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory”. Look around for it and let me know if you can figure it out! ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/9 "2002-09-08T18:50:47Z")
Eh, he says it’s not really “homework”, and I for one believe him. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134515](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134515) We don’t hate you, Ssarl, but ya know, we do get kids in here sometimes who are quite blatant about wanting us to do all their research for them. “I have to write a paper on Thomas Jefferson, what are the main points of his life…” Which is annoying, to say the least. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Ssarl:_ > \*\*there are 11 in Doctor Who, 4 in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and 10 Thing I Hate About You, 5 from Carry On’s and 3 from Kiss Me Kate; and my sources range from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) to a Marshall Law TV advertisement (two days ago!) \*\* So, c’mon, people, jump in. 😃 Only 3 in Kiss Me Kate? Huh? It’s ALL Shakespeare, it’s the Taming of the Shrew… ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/10 "2002-09-08T18:51:15Z")
You might also want to watch a lot of Star Trek - both the original series and Next Generation. Also, check out the original soundtrack for the musical “Hair” - although I am not certain that qualifies as “modern” anymore. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/11 "2002-09-08T19:15:30Z")
Hmm…I see from your other thread you’ve already found the ones in Willy Wonka. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/12 "2002-09-08T19:18:42Z")
Well, I’ve been known to look in the mirror and say, “Oh, that this too, too, solid flesh would melt!”, but that probably doesn’t count. In “The Dead Poets Society”, there was a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dunno what actual quotes were used, though. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/13 "2002-09-08T19:54:22Z")
Do titles count? There’s that Robin Williams flick “What Dreams May Come”, from Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” speech. I know there are other titles out there, but they’re not surfacing in my brain just now. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/14 "2002-09-08T21:24:36Z")
In Monty Python’s Parrot Sketch, John Cleese screams at one point, “He’s bleeding demised! He’s shuffled off this mortal coil! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! _This!_ is an ex-parrot!” I also heard what I think was a mattress commercial (albeit for a local chain, I think) that had the line “To sleep, perchance to dream” in it. But I can’t cite or verify that one. At least a couple of popular songs refer to Romeo: The Supremes’ _Back in my arms again_ contains the line “But Flo, she don’t know that the boy she loves is a Romeo.” There’s also a doo-wop song _Just like Romeo and Juliet_. Don’t know if these qualify, but hey. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/15 "2002-09-09T05:12:49Z")
John Steinbeck wrote a novel called “The Winter of Our Discontent”, which was made into a TV movie starring Donald Sutherland and Terry Garr in 1983. The line “the winter of our discontent” was said by Richard III in the play of the same name. Star Trek VI is titled “The Undiscovered Country”, from the Hamlet soliloquy, and Christopher Plummer’s character (General Chang) quotes pretty extensively from Hamlet during the movie. In the same movie, General Chang also says “I am constant as the Northern Star”, from Cassius in Julius Caesar, and “Once more into the breach, dear friends”, which is from Henry’s speech in Henry V, and Chancellor Gorkon says "If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it. " The phrase “Brave new world” is from Miranda in the Tempest. “Once More Into the Breach” is also the name of a Deep Space 9 episode. There’s actually a lot of Shakespeare in Star Trek. There’s a partial list here: [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5462/bardtrek.html](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5462/bardtrek.html) Jack Benny stared in the 1942 “To Be or Not To Be”, which was redone in the 80s by Mel Brooks, which is a black comedy about a Polish Shakespeare company in World War II. In addition to the title being from Shakespeare, the actors (who play actors) quote Shakespeare during the movie, but I’d need to watch it again to find out what. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/16 "2002-09-09T05:19:52Z")
One more. In the movie “In and Out”, which stars Kevin Kline as a high school English teacher outed by a former student, a flustered Kline is reading Shakespeare to his class, and makes the Freudian slip, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s gay?”. This, of course, is from Sonnet 18. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/17 "2002-09-09T10:01:53Z")
Duck Duck Goose > [@](#): > > Eh, he says it’s not really “homework”, and I for one believe him. No, you said that. He didn’t. He called it a “little game” assigned by his English teacher — an assignment that, unless he was posting from school, is homework. ---
**Author:** ![Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ssarl_the_happy_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/18 "2002-09-09T10:25:15Z")
Only 3 in Kiss Me Kate? Huh? It’s ALL Shakespeare, it’s the Taming of the Shrew… I set myself the criteria that I cannot use quotes in the context of the play being performed. Ie I could get Shakespeare in Love and get like 30 quotes because they do entire SCENES of Romeo + Juliet. Instead I just list the whole thing as ‘characters performing play’. So for Kiss Me Kate and similar movies I can only use those quotes from other works of shakespeare, or said by characters when not performing the play (Kiss me kate, to flee or not to flee, and going away is such sweet sorrow in that example). Get it? ---
**Author:** ![Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ssarl\_the\_happy\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ssarl_the_happy_Martian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/19 "2002-09-09T10:31:22Z")
Only 3 in Kiss Me Kate? Huh? It’s ALL Shakespeare, it’s the Taming of the Shrew… I set myself the criteria that I cannot use quotes in the context of the play being performed. Ie I could get Shakespeare in Love and get like 30 quotes because they do entire SCENES of Romeo + Juliet. Instead I just list the whole thing as ‘characters performing play’. So for Kiss Me Kate and similar movies I can only use those quotes from other works of shakespeare, or said by characters when not performing the play (Kiss me kate, to flee or not to flee, and going away is such sweet sorrow in that example). Get it? And it’s STILL not homework, or an ‘assignment’! In Moura teachers and students have LIVES beyond homework. Just because she’s a teacher does not mean we’re not allowed to have a fun game! ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423/20 "2002-09-09T11:24:16Z")
I believe “Brave New World” was a shakespere quote from a recent thread in GD [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-quoted-in-modern-media/127423.md?page=2)