SHAKESPEARE ON LIFE
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was not a philosopher. He was
a poet-playwright. He changed his views about topics like life, love, death, world,
God, happiness, grief, gratitude, ingratitude, etcetera according to the
situation before him. He contradicted himself without hesitation. This is also
true about many other great poets.
The American poet and essayist Walt Whitman (1819=1892) asked
: Do I contradict myself? And answered, yes I do? I am great.
Given below are a few quotations on ‘Life’ by William
Shakespeare. They present no consistent philosophy; yet each view expressed by
him is weighty and laudable.
1.
The
web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: Our virtues would
be proud if faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were
not cherished by our virtues. ---All’s
Well That Ends Well, Act 4.
2.
. . . . Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a
walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and
fury, signifying nothing. ---Macbeth, Act
5.
3.
Life
is a shuttle.---Merry Wives of Windsor,
Act 5.
4.
It
is stillness to live when to live is a torment. ---Othello, Act 1.
5.
We
are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with
sleep.----Tempest, Act 4.
6. There’s nothing in this world can
make me joy: Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale vexing the dull ear of a
drowsy man; and bitter shame hath spoil’d the sweet world’s taste, that it
yields nought but shme and bitterness. ---King
John, Act 3.
G.R.Kanwal
18th February 2025
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