Author: Sweeperlutze

“Could great men thunder…” (Measure for Measure). I was reminded of this monologue by Isabella a few days ago when the prospect of Boris Johnson returning top No.10 loomed large. Having now seen the cabinet that Rishi Sunak has assembled around him, these words came back to me just as strongly. Isabella believes that men […]

“What’s he that wishes so” (Henry V) This is better known as the ‘St Crispin’s Day’ speech and is one of the most famous speeches in all of Shakespeare. Henry V is a history play written in around 1599 and detailing the English king’s wars with France during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453). Henry V […]

‘Two households, both alike in dignity’ (Romeo and Juliet) So begins the Prologue to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Prologue tells us the setting of the play: we are to be transported to the beautiful (‘fair’) Italian city of Verona, where the ensuing action takes place. There, a long-standing feud between two well-respected households or […]

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?’ (Macbeth) This scene is often staged, and filmed, with the dagger suspended in mid-air. But this makes the implied boundary between the real and the hallucinatory too clear-cut: as numerous critics have pointed out, the point is that Macbeth believes […]

‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more’ (Henry V) This is the second most famous speech from Henry V, and comes in Act 3 Scene 1 of the play, during the siege of Harfleur in Normandy, carried out by the real historical King Henry V in 1415 as part of the Hundred Years […]

‘O for a Muse of fire’ (Henry V) so begins the Prologue to Henry V. The Prologue is spoken by the Chorus, and the speech sets the scene for the historical drama that will follow; it also makes reference to the very theatre in which Henry V was first performed, which makes it doubly notable […]

‘If music be the food of love, play on’: (Twelfth Night) These nine words, spoken by the Count Orsino, are among the most famous opening lines in all of Shakespeare. To set the scene: Twelfth Night opens with the Duke of Illyria, Orsino, pining away with love for Olivia, a countess whose father died a […]

‘The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan’ (Macbeth) so begins Lady Macbeth’s first great soliloquy. The speech comes in Act 1 Scene 5, immediately after Lady Macbeth has received news from a messenger that Duncan, the King, will be arriving at the castle that night, accompanied by Lady Macbeth’s […]

‘Was the hope drunk wherein you dress’d yourself?’ (Macbeth) Lady Macbeth taunts her husband for his loss of resolve, in Act 1 Scene 7. The scene, and Lady Macbeth’s exchange with her husband, bring the first act of Macbeth to a close, paving the way for the bloody events that will follow in the next […]

“But, soft! What light from yonder window breaks” (Romeo and Juliet) is a speech made by Romeo at the beginning of Act II Scene 2 The whole of the speech represents the consolidation and confirmation of Romeo’s love for Juliet. Romeo begins this speech when he sees Juliet at her window. (Whether she’s at a […]