Famous Shakespeare Quotes Caught On Film

Throughout the decades, many modern movies have taken their plotlines from Shakespeare’s famous plays:

• The Godfather, modelled after King Lear.
• West Side Story, modelled after Romeo and Juliet
• Forbidden Planet, modelled after The Tempest.
• The Lion King, modelled after Hamlet.

But what about direct quotes taken from Shakespeare’s plays? Here are 5 of the most surprising movies that contain Shakespearean quotes:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

– Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder, is notorious for spouting Shakespearean quotes throughout the movie. Here are just a few:

“Is it my soul that calls upon my name?” – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii

“Birds sing, hey ding
A-ding, a-ding
Sweet lovers love the spring”— As You Like it, Act V, Scene iii

“Where is fancy bred? In the heart, or in the head?” – The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene ii

“So shines a good deed in a weary world.” – The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Scene i

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

– Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, is famous for referring to Shakespeare and using quotes from his plays. But in the sixth of the original Star Trek movies, there are more than 15 quotes taken from 8 of Shakespeare’s plays. Here are just two instances of Shakespeare present in this movie:

– Chancellor Gorkon: “I offer a toast. The undiscovered country…the future.”
– Everyone: “The undiscovered country.”
– Spock: “Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.”
– Gorkon: “You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.”
– Chang: “taH pagh taHbe’ [Klingons laugh] “To be or not to be?” That is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. We need breathing room.”
– James Kirk: “Earth. Hitler,1938.”
– Chang: “I beg your pardon?” [pause]
– Gorkon: “Well…I see we have a long way to go.”

– Chang: “Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us…shall we not revenge?” – The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene i

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

– This movie is a parody of Robin Hoods everywhere, directed by Mel Brooks. When Robin Hood swims all the way home to England from Jerusalem, he lands on the beach and exclaims:

“A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” – Richard III, Act V, Scene iv

In another scene, the townspeople throw their ears at Robin Hood when he says the famous line:

“Lend me your ears!”- Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene ii

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

– Who would have thought that Shakespeare could be found in the world of Harry Potter? But nonetheless, the choir at Hogwarts sings part of the spell of the Three Witches from Macbeth:

“Double, double, toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble
Double, double, toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes.

Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing.”
– Macbeth, Act IV, Scene i

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

– Shakespeare’s words can even be found in the Twilight series. The first quote is in the preface of the novel New Moon, but it is also spoken at the beginning of the movie. The second quote is spoken by Edward Cullen, when he is in English class:

“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.” – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene vi

“Oh here, will I set up my everlasting rest and shake the yolk of inauspicious stars from this world-wearried flesh. Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace! And lips, Oh you, the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death!” – Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene iii

ANONYMOUS is playing in cinemas now.