On World Book Day and Shakespeares birth/death anniversary I celebrate the wisdom of the Bard, a speech and plot about mercy as good if not better than the Bible. Ive always loved the role and righteous words of Portia in the Merchant of Venice: The quality of mercy is not straind, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest Gods When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. shakespeare-online/plays/merchant_4_1.html So many of our idioms and sayings come from Bible and Shakespeare. Phrases such as what the dickens, or send him packing, method in my madness, wear your heart on your sleeve, too much of a good thing, such stuff as dreams are made on and so many more stem from the Bard. He is said to have created something over a 1000 new words and phrases, or at least was the first to use them in print, sayings such as in a pickle, in stitches or laughing stock, even bedazzled comes from The Taming of the Shrew and Fashionable from Troilus and Cressida.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 21:15:26 +0000
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