Shakespearean Quotes for life

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare:

 If anyone asks me, who is my favorite author, my reply is always William Shakespeare!

Shakespeare is a dramatic genius, belonging to the Elizabethan and the Jacobean age. A well known playwright, poet and actor. He is surely everyone’s favorite as he is known to be the greatest writer in English language and History. He has written 39 plays and 154 sonnets including two narrative poems. He is well known for his tragedies, comedies, tragicomedies, histories, Romantic comedies etc.

I fell in love with Shakespeare’s romantic comedies, especially As You Like it. We were introduced to Shakespeare at U.G level, until then I hadn’t read his works. Merchant of Venice was the first one that I read. I found this play quite interesting and was delighted to read more of his works. All his works are very intensive and great to read, but I prefer his Comedies the most.

Shakespeare had the mastery of writing. His style and language belonged to that era, but reading his plays seems very satisfying as I feel those characters and the situations are exactly like ours. The dialogues in his plays seem to be very witty with elaborate metaphors that we can even apply it today. The poems also seem to be very rhetorical. His plays seem to be very mature with proper characters and plots.

 Shakespeare’s romantic comedies are always a pleasure to read. It is light-hearted with intricate complexity in love and romantic relationships. But it  ends happily with marriages among couple/s .The elements of romantic comedy are happy denouement, separation and re – unification, complexities in love, disguise and impersonation or mistaken identity and of course comedy!

Some of his comedies include – All’s well that Ends Well, A Midsummer Night’s dream, As You Like it, Twelfth Night Merchant of Venice, Much ado about Nothing.

As You Like It: (1599)

As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by Shakespeare. This play seems to me very outstanding and remarkable. This is one of my favorite plays. The characters, the plot, themes and others things have deeply affected me. Orlando seems to be a fine character with proper values and goodness. Rosalind is smart and intelligent. She loves Orlando. The fool occupies the most prominent position in all the Shakespeare’s plays. Touchstone is the fool of the play who is witty and quick in his dialogues. All his dialogues seem to be logical and witty. Jacques is another important character in the play, a nobleman and melancholic in nature but presents excellent dialogues. He correctly interprets life. Oliver, Orlando’s brother does not care about Orlando and is selfish but everything resolves at the end and the play ends happily!

For summary refer online website - www.williamshakespeare.net

Quote from the play by Jaques:

All the worlds's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts beings seven ages.
At first the infant,mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
And then the whining school - boy, with his satchel and shining morning face,
creeping like snail unwillingly to school.
And then the lover, sighing like furnace with a woeful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier, full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, jealous and honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, seeking the bubble reputation even in the canon's mouth.
And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lin'd, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
The sixth age shifts into the lean an slippere'd pantaloon, with spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide for his shrunk shank;
And his big manly voice, turning again toward childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound.
Last seen of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion;
sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

       

   

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo –Alexandre Dumas (1944)

The first novel that I read…

I was in standard fifth, that I stumbled upon novels in school. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas was the first novel that I had read. Reading is my favourite hobby. I used to read lots and lots of books while schooling, especially short stories like Aesop’s Fables, Arabian Tales, Panchatrantra and many more. Once, during the reading period in school, I happened to pick this novel of Alexandre Dumas, not knowing that it is a novel!

I happened to read it at home. While reading, I found it interesting and learnt the plot, but was confused as they were not stories but it was a long story. At first, I thought it was a book with different stories; but I was wrong. I slowly started indulging myself into the book and it completely engulfed me.I spent time with the book in the noon hours, after the school, after completing my homework everyday. Being curious, I asked my school librarian about the book and she told me that it was a novel. She also told me what a novel is.

The plot in, The Count of Monte Cristo is quite simple, inspired by a real – life event of wrongful imprisonment. It is a classic novel by Dumas. The story is of a young man named, Edmund Dantès (the protagonist) who loses everything one day. Edmund is a kind character and was to be appointed as the captain of a ship. He has a fiancée named Mercédès - a beautiful, kind woman. Due to his kind nature, Edmund is liked by everyone except Danglers, Fernand Mondego, Caderousse and Gerald De Villefort. These four people envy him and therefore they falsely accuse Edmund of certain crime and frame a charge against him. Poor Edmund is arrested on his wedding day when it wasn’t his fault at all! He is sentenced lifelong imprisonment. In the prison, he meets another political prisoner, the elderly Abbé Faria who saves his life when he tries to commit suicide. He later helps Edmund in many ways…he gives him hope, future and possibility of new beginning if he escapes prison with a fortune in treasure. Abbé Faria dies at later stage and Edmund however successfully escapes prison and leads a new life as a mysterious Count on the Island of Monte Cristo to avenge on men who conspired against him. As one reads the novel, sees the pain of Edmund but is relieved when he tries to escape the prison and start a new life!

This novel is all about suffering, pain, despair, wrongful imprisonment, death and retribution.

Novels speak about life. It is an imaginary reconstruction of life and can be directly or indirectly related to our lives. They may be of different types but somehow they affect us. Novels can teach us the lessons of life. This novel by Dumas truly shows us how to overcome difficulties in life and not lose hope at any point.

I felt content after reading the novel. It was the first novel that I read and enjoyed! From then on I preferred reading more novels. Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Robinson Crusoe, Nancy Drew, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Alice’s Adventures, A Tale of Two Cities, Harry Potter series etc.etc…. occupied my list of reading!

- Bakita A. Naik

About Me

Hi, Friends! My blog is all about literature, life and me. I'm an Assistant Professor in English and I love teaching English. I love reading books and accordingly feel, that books are somewhat connected to our lives or they affect our lives somehow. We connect with the characters, sometimes we get ideas to know what to do, if certain situations arise in life. In short, reading good books can perhaps change our lives and improve our language.

- Bakita A. Naik