Episode 33: Beware the Inspirational Shakespeare Quote

It has come to my attention that I’m a little behind in getting the most recent episodes up on the website. My apologies for the delay. On the bright side: you get a little more Shakespeare in your inbox in the short term.

How often have you seen a quote on a beautifully colored background with the claim that the words are from William Shakespeare himself?

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet, then probably at least a handful of times.

But there are pitfalls when it comes to taking what seems to be good advice from Shakespeare himself. One of them being that most of what was written by Shakespeare are words said by characters in his plays who often have other things going on that have nothing to with being generally inspirational.

Join me as I consider why it’s helpful to more thoughtfully consider inspirational quotes being passed off as Shakespeare and look at a couple of popular quotes people do like to use. We’ll determine the original context of those quotes and what they mean once you ground them in the plays they’re from.

Be suspicious of these!!!

Listen to this episode here or wherever you find your podcasts:

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠

2 responses to “Episode 33: Beware the Inspirational Shakespeare Quote”

  1. A brilliant and funny exposé, thanks to which I’ll never just accept a Shakespeare quote as “correct” simply because someone set it in a pretty frame!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Let’s all become the critical Shakespeare quote inspectors that will annoy our friends. Glad you enjoyed!

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