brush up your shakespeare.... 1/2 way there!!
here are the latest dozen plays i’ve read as i continue my brush up your shakespeare quest!
here’s a zoom in on my notebook and my process for making each of these handlettering quotes! i’m using an 8x8” archer & olive notebook (just like this one except with a cute ghost on the cover!) and a variety of pen and ink and marker tools. :)
aaaaand it’s been a hot minute (not a coined shakespearen-ism as far as i know!) since we checked in on my read-through of the (known) shakespearean canon.
in fact, it was in may, 2025 the last time we checked in. (that blog post here!) and i (slowly) read another dozen in the next six months leading up to the new year. (golly, those political* plays Did. Me. In. yak! none obviously as joyous & silly as a pastoral romp through arden, although one or two did have some great banter &/or shakespearean insults i’m keeping in my back pocket!) ;)
so here are a handful of favourite quotes i marked in each of these plays—and a picture of each quote i illuminated in my shakespeare quotebook as well.
here’s to reading the second half of the canon in 2026!**
* i heard a shakespeare scholar call them “bloody political thrillers,” but i seriously cannot keep my eyes uncrossed with the wonky family trees and three titles and name changes per person, etc. etc. as ever: i’m just here for the language and not the plots, i guess. (and: of course: shakespeare is meant to be seen/heard and not read. so i’d LOVE to see performances of the KING plays! i bet they’d all make a lot more sense seeing them performed (well) on stage!
** at least we finally made it through all the “‘K‘ is for ‘King’s!”
king henry V
while i’m not happy with my hand lettering here, as i always say: “all art is practice.”
and as i recently heard on a v.e. schwab NO WRITE WAY podcast episode: “intention over perfection.”
so i’m practicing that new mantra by moving on to the next one and doing better next time.
(created with gelly roll pens, graphite, and micron pens in an 8×8” archer & olive dot grid notebook.)
✨🎭 “all things are ready if our minds be so.”
~king henry, henry v, act 4, scene 3 🎭✨
KING HENRY V: in which the aforenamed prince hal shuns his former compatriots in his youthful shenanigans and is persuaded that he has a lawful right to rule france—so there’s a bunch of battles and traitors and then he woos a french princess with a lost-in-translation-language barrier and we’re told by the chorus (omniscient narrator) spoiler alerts for HENRY VI. 🎭✨
my favorite part was the CHORUS character who invites the audience to embrace their imaginations and fill the stage with thier own mindseyes of the horses and battles and fields of france and the valiant daring-dos of those on stage.
my other fave HENRY V quote was from the chorus in the epilogue:
“thus far with rough and all-unable pen
our bending* author hath pursued the story...”
*bending: as in, bowing along with the cast. what a falsely-modest playwright/actor that wm was, eh?
but here are some of the many other great quotes from this one:
“for now sits Expectation in the air.”
~ chorus, act II
“o, let us yet be merciful.”
~ king henry, act II, scene 2
“thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
in motion of no less celerity
than that of thought.”
~ chorus, act III
“still be kind,
and eke out our performance with your mind.”
~ chorus, III
“the game’s afoot.”
~ king henry, III.2.
“knocks go and come”
~ pistol, III.2.
“be merciful, great duke, to men of mold.”
~ pistol, III.2.
“we are in God’s hands, brother, not in theirs.”
~ king henry, III.6.
“will it never be morning?”
~ orléans, III.7.
“it is a theme as fluent as the sea.”
~ dauphin, III.7.
“‘tis true we are in great danger.
the greater therefore should our courage be.”
~ king henry, IV.1.
“i think the king is but a man as i am. the violet smells to him as it doth to me.”
~ king henry, IV.1.
“i think he would not wish himself anywhere but where he is.”
~ king henry, IV.1.
“they have said their prayers, and they stay for death.”
~ constable, IV.3.
“the day is yours.”
~ montjoy, IV. 7.
“canst thou love me?”
~ king henry, V.2.
“now fie upon my false french.”
~ king henry, V.2.
p.s. the shakespeare anyone? podcast episode “HENRY V wrap up” (published may 21, 2025) is excellent! they discuss different versions of the play they watched and how each one draws out different bits of the tale to emphasize with theme, character, etc.
long-live forever-adaptable theatre! 🥳
king henry VI part 1
handlettering quote created with graphite and mattehop pens in an 8x8” archer & olive dot grid notebook
✨🎭 “i prithee give me leave to curse awhile.”
~ pucelle (i.e. joan of arc!), henry vi, part 1; act 5, scene 3 🎭✨
here’s what i learned for the first time while reading this play:
a. joan of arc is in a shakespeare play!
b. the english, not the french, burned her at the stake. (i always just kind of thought the french turned on her. 🤷🏽♀️)
did YOU know that?!
alas: i’ve never pretended to be a history scholar. but i DO love to learn new things!
here were some of the (many) other great quotes from this new-to-me play:
“and i have heard it said unbidden guests
are often welcomest when they are gone.”
~bedford, act II, scene 2
“the plot is laid.”~countess, act II, scene 3
“i am but shadow of myself...
for what you see is but the smallest part
and least proportion of humanity.”
~talbot, act II, scene 3
“speak on, but be not over-tedious.”~burgundy, act III, scene 3
“i’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.”
~suffolk, act V, scene 3
king henry VI, part 2
handlettering created in an 8x8” archer & olive notebook with micron size 10 pen, caran d’ache and prismacolor pencils, & ooly rainbow glitter markers. 😂🍞🧀
✨🎭 “his breath skinks with eating toasted cheese.”
~ smith [aside], henry VI, part 2; act IV, scene 7 🎭✨
here were some other fave quotes from this bloody conspiracy plots and executions and arrests and fake healings “bloody political thriller.” (i heard this term used to make “the history plays” sound more interesting, but i still can’t get into ‘em except for the silly/out of context quotes):
“for that’s the golden mark i seek to hit.”
~york, act I, scene 1
“how now, sir knave?”
~suffolk, act I, scene 3
“ah, that my fear were false”
~gloucester, act III, scene 1
“for what’s more miserable than discontent?”
~king henry, act III, scene 1
“this spark will prove a raging fire”
~queen margaret, act III, scene 1
“a wilderness is populous enough.”
~suffolk, act III, scene 2
“and take my heart with thee.”
~suffolk, act III, scene 2
“you were best to go to bed and dream again”
~warwick, act V, scene 1
king henry VI part 3
handlettering created with black markers & pens, + ooly color sheen markers, rainbow glitter markers, and sparkle switcheroos in an archer & olive 8x8” dot grid notebook
✨🎭 “i can add colors to the chameleon”
~ richard, henry VI part 3, act III, scene 2 🎭✨
people thrown in prison. people being executed. run away! run away! no wait, come back! the king took a mistress while his ambassador is proposing on his behalf to a princess in france? j’accuse! i switch sides! again! to ireland! to italy! everybody dies and something about white and red roses. oh: and, of course, a deformed, love-less villain strategically killing everyone in line for the throne ahead of him. a throughline to be continued, but we see you, richard. (also dialogue that names two other plays: “love’s labor’s lost” and “measure for measure!”)
call this a dramatical bloody political thriller if it helps you, but golly: it’s just violent politics to me.
here are the out of context quotes that caught my eye as i read, though. because you know i’m just here for the language when it’s one of shakespeare’s (many) history plays:
“why should you sigh, my lord?”
~ warwick, act I, scene 1
“oh, tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide.”
~ york, I.4.
“dazzle mine eyes, or do i see three suns?”
~ edward, II.1.
“tis wondrous strange, the like yet never heard of.”
~ edward, II.1.
“let us fly while we may fly.”
~queen elizabeth, IV.4.
“i’ll not trouble thee with words.”
~ oxford, V.5.
“let aesop fable in a winter’s night.”
~ prince edward, V.5.
“what, at your book so hard?”
~ richard, V.6.
king henry VIII, or all is true
i think this is my fave piece i’ve done yet. pens and gelly rolls (incl. purple glitter, of course) on an 8×8” archer & olive dot grid notebook page.
✨🎭 “—‘tis an old story—“
~ old lady, henry VIII, act II, scene 3, line 109 🎭✨
here were some other lines i loved from this play:
“if i chance to talk a little wild, forgive me.”
~sands, act I, sc 4
“this secret is so weighty ‘twill require
a strong fath to conceal it.”
“let me have it.
i do not talk much.”
~ second & first gentleman, act II, sc 1
“there is hope
all will be well.”
~chamberlain, act II, sc 3
“this is strange to me.”
~ anne [bullen], act II, sc 3
“my drops of tearsi’ll turn to sparks of fire.”
~ queen katherine, act II, sc 4
“men’s evil manners live in brass; their virtues
we write in water.”
~ griffith, act IV, sc 2
“know i come not
to hear such flattery now”
~king, act V, sc 2
“‘tis ten to one this play can never please
all that are here. some come to take their ease
and sleep an act or two...”
~epilogue
king john
again: pens and gellyrolls, maybe some soufflé pens, too. all in my 8×8” archer & olive dot grid notebook! see also: me in every social situation.
✨🎭 “i am perplexed and know not what to say.”
~ king philip, from king john, act III, scene 1, line 231✨🎭
so KING JOHN is indeed “prince john” from the animated ROBIN HOOD (disney, 1973) i love so much. but as you can guess, shakespeare’s story is different. and i have no idea what the “real” history is. [acc. to the bard, “richard the lionhearted” pulled out a lion’s heart (! ack !) and wasn’t even a good guy—nor a lion himself, it seems.]
here were some of my favourite (out of context/random) quotes:
“fault lies on the hazards of all husbands that marry wives.”
~king john, act I, scene 1
”who dares not stir by day must walk by night”
~bastard, I.1.
“we must speed
for france, for france, for it is more than need.”
~king john, I.1.
“both are alike, and both alike we like.”
~citizen, II.1.
“ask me if i can refrain from love”
~dauphin, II.1.
“Nature and Fortune joined to make thee great.”
~constance, III.1.
“so foul a sky clears not without a storm.”
~king john, IV.2.
”be mercury, set feathers to thy heels,
and fly like thought from them to me again.”
“the spirit of the time shall teach me speed.”
~ king john and bastard, IV.2.
“five moons!”
~king john, V.2.
“i am hot with haste in seeking you.”
~hubert, IV.3.
“avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!”
“i am no villain.”
~salisbury and hubert, IV.3.
“what art thou?”
“what’s that to thee?”
~bastard and hubert, V.6.
king lear
✨🎭 “holla, holla!”
~goneril, from king lear, act V, scene 3 🎭✨
obviously i chose the most eloquent and thoughtful quote from this entire play, often pointed to as shakespeare’s “most mature” work. 🙃
hot take: i don’t like this play. it has some GREAT quotes (see below for a small handful i marked during my latest re-read), but here’s why it bugs me:
the INJUSTICE of it all.
in HAMLET, yeah, everybody dies. but the bad guys were found out before they were murdered (er, slain by their own trickeries.). in LEAR, it’s a miscommunication trope gone brutally awry, and bad guys and everybody is SO MEAN. the lack of sincere love for the aging king is gut-wrenching. (who, another hot take, i don’t think lear is as mad/alzheimer’s as everybody is reading into it these days.)
this play is brutal and sad and depressing and not in a good/adventurous/exciting way.
alas, here are some outta-context lines to keep in your pocket :
“i love you more that word can wield the matter.”
~ goneril, act I, scene 1
“nothing will come of nothing. speak again.”
~ king lear, I.1.
“come not between the dragon and his wrath.”
~ king lear, I.1
“thou losest here a better where to find.”
~ france, I.1
“abominable villain!”
~ gloucester, I.2
“this is the excellent foppery of the world”
edmund, I.2
“what serious contemplation are you in?”
~ edgar, I.2.
“have more than thou showest,
speak less than thou knowest”
~ fool, I.4
“thou wouldst make a good Fool.”
~ fool, I.5
“draw, you rogue”
~ kent, II.2.
“i have seen better faces in my time.”
~ kent, II.2
“fetch me a better answer.”
~ king lear, II.4.
“good sir, to’ th’ purpose.”
~ regan, II.4.
“who’s there, besides foul weather?”
~ kent, III.1
“the worst is not
so long as we can say ‘this is the worst.’”
~ edgar [aside], IV.1.
“it smells of mortality.”
~ king lear, IV.6.
“i see it feelingly.”
~ gloucester, IV.6.
“so we’ll live,
and pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
at gilded butterflies”
~ lear, V.3
“jesters do oft prove prophets.”
~ regan, V.3
[he throws down a glove]
stage direction for both albany & edmund, V.3
“vex not his ghost.”
~ kent, V.3
king richard II
✨✒️ “madam, we’ll tell tales.”
~ lady, from richard II, act III, scene 4 🖋️✨
oh, goodie. more politics and fleeing the country and whoever wants to take over can imprison/send the monarchs into exile... BUT the good news is, i only have ONE more “king” play before i get to move on to the more-familiar-to-me shakespeares! 😅🥳🙌🏽📖🎭
here were some of my other rando quotes from KING RICHARD II:
“what sayst thou to this?”
~ king richard, act I, scene 1
“free speech and fearless i to thee allow.”
~ king richard, I.1.
“where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain.”
~ gaunt, II.1.
“meteors fright the fixèd stars of heaven”
~ welsh captain, II.4.
“let’s fight with gentle words”
~ aumerle, III.3.
“what i want it boots not to complain.”
~ queen, III.4.
”if God prevent not, i purpose so.”
~ aumerle, V.2.
“yea, lookst thou pale? let me see the writing.”
(and again, 2 lines later 😂)
“let me see the writing.”
~ york, V.2.
“then give me leave that i may turn the key
that no man enter till my tale be done.”
~ aumerle, V.3.
KING RICHARD III
(not my most legible handlettering attempt, but as i say: all art is practice! and i did learn a few things i liked along the way for future pieces!}
✨🎭 “is ink and paper ready?”
~ richard, from king richard III, act V, scene 3. ✨🎭
my fave of the “bloody politics” plays in my alphabetical read-through of shakespeare’s canon, KING RICHARD III had some terrific lines and back-and-forth verbal duelings.
i’ve never SEEN this play (and the movie my library had, well, i’m glad i looked up “content,” because NO ThanK YoU!).... but hope to see it some day!
AND i learned in this (first) reading, it’s the play that inclues famous lines “a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” (act V, scene 4) and OpENS with “now is the winter of our discontent...” so glad to (finally) know their origins! 😄
here, as ever, are some of my fave quotes, out of context, that are worth the ink on the page:
“hear me, you wrangling pirates...!”
~ queen margaret, act I, scene 3.
“foul, wrinkled witch, what mak’st thou in my sight?”
~ richard, I.3.
“my hair doth stand an end to hear her curses.”
~ buckingham, I.3.
“all-seeing heaven, what a world is this!”
~ queen elizabeth, II.1.
“tomorrow may it please you to be crowned?”
~ buckingham, III.7.
“inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons.”
~ richard, V.4.
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
golly, you know how much i love self-referential art/comedy. micron ink pens + ooly sparkle switcheroos, color sheen, and rainbow glitter markers on 8×8” archer & olive notebook paper.
✨🎭 “that’s too long for a play.”
~ berowne, love’s labour’s lost, act V, scene 2 🎭✨
ooooo-deeee-lolly, it felt good to finally read a shakespeare comedy again. (i was slogging through all those “kings” for what felt like an eternal bloody reign...)
anyhow, this one ISN’T exactly a comedy.
at least according to “bard-ian” standards/formulas.
as it doesn’t end in a wedding (or few).
and there’s even historical reference to a lost play: LOVE’S LABOUR’S WON, which may be where those wedding(s) were... but, as of yet, we dunno.
here are some other fave lines & phrases from this absurdist, light-on-plot, failed-study-monk-experiment...
“i will praise an eel with the same praise.”
~ boy, act I, scene 2
“i will tell thee wonders.”
“with that face?”
“i love thee.”
“so i heard you say.”
~ armado & jacquenetta, act I, scene 2
”well, i will love, write, sigh, pray…”
~ berowne, III.1.
“good night, my good owl.”
boyet, act IV, scene 2
“he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk
ink. his intellect is not replenished.”
~nathaniel, act IV, scene 2
“are we not all in love?”
~ king, act IV, scene 3
“they have been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps.”
~ boy, act V, scene 1
“thou art easier swallowed than a flapdragon.”
~ costard, act V, scene 1
“an i had but one penny in the world, thou
shouldst have it to buy gingerbread!”
~ costard, act V, scene 1
“a kissing traitor...”
~ berowne, act V, scene 2
”our wooing doth not end like an old play.
jack hath not jill.”
~ berowne, V.2.
MACBETH
(i thought this was funny ‘cuz i can hear TIGGER saying it in my head.) 😅🧡🍯
✨🎭 “well, i will thither.”
~ ross, from macbeth, act II, scene 4 🎭✨
gotta admit. this was my most pleasant reading of this one. for some reason, i could follow who was in charge and who wanted who dead easier (okay, so flipping -often- to the cast o’ characters list in the front sure helps!)...
here were some of my fave lines in this most recent read-through of “THE SCOTTISH PLAY:”
“are you fantastical...?”
~ banquo, act I, scene 3
“were such things here as we do speak about?”
~banquo, I.3.
“and nothing is but what is not.”
~macbeth, I.3.
“i feel now the future in an instant.”
~ lady macbeth, I.6.
“screw your courage to the sticking place”
~ gaston. i mean, lady macbeth, I.7. ;)
”methought i heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more!’”
~ macbeth, II.2.
“confusion now hath made his masterpiece.”
~ macduff, II.3.
“your royal father’s been murdered.”
“o, by whom?”
macduff & malcolm, II.3.
“our tears are not yet brewed.”
~ donalbain, II.3.
“i am reckless what i do to spite the world.”
~ second murderer, III.1.
“i had else been perfect”
~ macbeth, III.4.
”thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.”
“thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.”
first witch and second witch, IV.1.
“eye of newt and toe of frog.
wool of bat and tongue of dog.”
~second witch, IV.1.
“let them fly all.”
~ macbeth, V.3.
(an alternative for sending the flying monkeys? no? just me?) 👠👠🌈
”there is ten thousand—”
“geese, villain?”
“soldiers, sir.”
~ servant & macbeth, V.3.
“i would applaud thee to the very echo that should applaud again.”
~ macbeth, V.3.
“and little is to do.”
~ siward, V.7.
”turn, hellhound, turn!”
~macduff, V.8.
hot take: i want the future to happen without having to manipulate and connive to bring good things to be that would have happened anyway. 🥰😇💙 you?
measure for measure
ink and gellyroll pens in my 8×8” archer & olive dot grid shakespeare quote notebook
✨🎭 “i’ll see what i can do.”
~ isabella, from measure for measure, act I, scene 4 🎭✨
(didn’t know you could quote shakespeare, did you?!) 😆
well, this play is…well… more proof women are never believed. as well as more incorrigible behavior from men. but, you know: shakespeare. and eternal hope for justice for all. 🎭✨
here are some quotes that officially mark half-way through my read-through-shakespeare’s-canon from MEASURE FOR MEASURE!
“our doubts are traitors
and makes us lose the good we oft might win
by fearing to attempt.”
~ lucio, act I, scene 4
“you are a tedious fool. to the purpose!”
~ escalus, II.1.
“but can you if you would?”
~ isabella, II.2.
“o, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”
~ isabella, II.2.
“what is ‘t i dream on?”
~ angelo, II.2.
“the miserable have no other medicine
but only hope.”
~ claudio, III.1.
“happy thou art not,
for what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get,
and what thou hast, forgets’st.”
~ claudio, III.1.
“thy complexion shifts to strange effects after the moon.”
~ claudio, III.1.
“the hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.”
~ duke [as friar, to isabella], III.1.
“very well met, and welcome.”
~ duke [as friar], IV.1.
“the best and wholesom’st spirits of the night envelop you”
~ duke [as friar], IV.2.
“o, death’s a great disguiser.”
~ duke [as friar], IV.2.
“away, you rogue, away! i am sleepy.”
~ barnardine, IV.3.
“nay, it is ten times strange.”
~ duke, V.1.
whew! we did it!
halfway! ;D
here are all the titles left for me to read through (barring any remarkable discoveries, of course) in my now #BrushUpYourShakespeare2026 quest:
the merchant of venice
the merry wives of windsor
a midsummer night’s dream
much ado about nothing
othello, the moor of veinice
pericles
the phoenix and the turtle
the rape of lucrece
romeo and juliet*
the sonnets (&)
a lover’s complaint
the taming of the shrew
the tempest
timon of athens
titus andronicus
troilus and cressida
twelfth night, or what you will
the two gentlemen of verona
the two noble kinsmen
venus and adonis
the winter’s tale
bonus news to me: atlanta, georgia has a shakespeare tavern! and they’re performing r&j this year! (as is shakespeare in the park/the public theatre, nyc, but that’s a bigger pipe dream to do THAT miraculous bucket list item twice in one lifetime!!) anyway: i hope to make it! have you ever been? there are SO many shakespeare theatres across the country i’d LOVE to visit. and this one’s only a few hours away, so combine it with a zoo trip and a trip to the aquarium and the puppetry arts center and totally worth it, no? :D
with my bardolatrous heart and promises to be nicer than all the kings listed above,
xo,
*hallie :)