(christened April 26, 1564–April 23, 1616), was an English playwright, poet and actor manager, whose works have had an enduring worldwide impact. He was born and educated at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the son of a prosperous glover. He married Ann Hathaway in 1582, and together they had three children. Moving to London c.1589, he established himself as an actor and playwright. In 1594 he began working with Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and in 1598 became a shareholding director in the Globe Theatre. During the plague of 1592–94, which cause a temporary closure of the theatre, he wrote the sonnets, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. In 1603, with the accession of King James I, the company became the King’s Men, and bought the Blackfriars Theatre. Due to wise investments, Shakespeare was able to retire in 1610 and continued writing until 1613. Among the 37 plays that bear his name, the most popular include: Hamlet; Julius Caesar; Richard III; Macbeth; Othello; Henry IV; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In 1591, Shakespeare introduced his play, King Henry the Sixth, in which he wrote in Part II, act II, scene i, line 34:
Blessed are the peacemakers on earth.120
In line 66, he wrote:
Now, God be praised, that to the believing souls
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!121
In scene iii, line 55, he exclaimed:
God defend the right!122
In Part III, act V, scene v, line 7, he penned:
So part we sadly in this troublous world
To meet with joy in sweet Jerusalem.123
William Shakespeare wrote in King Richard the Third, 1592–93, act I, scene iv:
O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though ’twere to but a world of happy days.124
Before I be convict by course of law,
To threaten me with death is most unlawful.
I charge you, as you hope for any goodness,
By Christ’s dear blood shed for our grievous sins
That you depart and lay no hands on me.125
In King Richard the Second, 1595–96, act IV, scene i, line 97, Shakespeare wrote:
Many a time hath banished Norfolk fought
For Jesus Christ in glorious Christian field,
Streaming the ensign of the Christian Cross,
And there at Venice, gave
His body to that pleasant country’s earth,
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colors he had fought so long.126
In line 170, Shakespeare wrote:
So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve,
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.
God save the king! Will no man say, amen?127
In line 239, he wrote:
Some of you with Pilate wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity.128
In the play, The Merchant of Venice, act I, scene ii, line 59, Shakespeare penned:
God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.129
In scene iii, line 99, he wrote:
Mark you this, Bassanio:
The devil can cite Scripture for his own purpose.
An evil soul, producing holy witness,
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.130
In act IV, scene i, line 184, he wrote:
The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed;
It blessed him that gives and him that takes:
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His scepter 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 sceptered sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself,
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore …
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.131
In his play, King Henry the Fourth, Part I, act i, scene 1, line 18, published in 1598, Shakespeare wrote:
Therefore friends,
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engaged to fight. …
To chase these pagans in those holy fields.
Over whose acres walk’d those blessed feet,
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail’d
For our advantage on the bitter cross.132
In King Henry the Fifth, 1598–1600, act III, scene vi, line 181, William Shakespeare wrote:
We are in God’s hand.133
In act IV, scene i, line 309, he wrote:
O God of battles! steel my soldiers’ hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them.134
In Hamlet, 1600–01, act I, scene I, Shakespeare wrote:
Some say—that ever ’gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated
The bird of dawning singeth all night long.135
In act III, scene i, line 150, he wrote:
I have heard of your paintings too, well enough;
God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.136
In scene iv, line 149, he wrote:
Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what’s past; avoid what is to come.137
In act V, scene i, line 84, he wrote:
A politician … one that would circumvent God.138
William Shakespeare wrote in Othello, 1604–05, act I, scene i, line 108:
You are one of those that will not serve God if the devil bid you.139
In act II, scene iii, line 106, he wrote:
Well, God’s above all; and there be souls must be saved,
and there be souls must not be saved.140
In line 293, he wrote:
O God! that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains; that we should, with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts.141
William Shakespeare wrote in King Henry the Eighth, 1613, act III, scene ii, line 456:
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.142
In act V, scene v, line 51, he wrote:
Whenever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honor and the greatness of his name
Shall be, and make new nations.143
William Shakespeare remarked:
God’s goodness hath been great to thee;
Let never day nor night unhallowed pass,
But still remember what the Lord hath done.144
In his last Will, dated the year of his death, 1616, the first clause reads:
In the name of God, Amen! I, William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warr., gent., in perfect health and memory, God be praised, do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following, that is to say, first, I commend my soul into the hands of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting, and my body to the earth whereof it is made.145
Carved on William Shakespeare’s Tombstone are the lines:
Good Friend For Jesus Sake Forbeare,
To Digg The Dust Enclosed Heare.
Blese Be Ye Man Spares Thes Stones,
And Curst Be He Moves My Bones.146