Category Archives: Presentation Ideas

Shakespeare is an inexhaustible source of presentation themes and ideas, including starters, epilogues and quotes that can revive the spirit of the audience. A well placed quote at the beginning of a presentation catches the attention and at the end it may be what triggers the applause. Relatively few people realize that in a presentation you cannot have form without substance, but substance without form can kill the effect. In the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” there are more than 10,000 instances of how to adapt a Shakespearean quote to any situation, including, of course, hundreds of examples usable in presentations.

Shakespeare, French Revolution and World War One

“The cannons have their bowels full of wrath, And ready mounted are they to spit forth Their iron indignation ‘gainst your walls” King John, act 2, sc. 1 This year’s July features two important anniversaries. On July 14th, 1789, the people of Paris stormed the prison of the Bastille, triggering the start of the French Read More

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Shakespeare and Selective Media Silence

 “… lend me ten thousand eyes, And I will fill them with prophetic tears” Troilus and Cressida, act 2, sc. 2 The migration of unaccompanied children from Guatemala, Honduras and San Salvador to the United States has caught for an instant the eye of the regime media. For reference, there are 1600 miles from Guatemala Read More

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Shakespeare & Independence Day

“…Believe my words, For they are certain and unfallible.” (King Henry VI part 1, act 1, sc. 2) So says the Duke of Orleans after explaining to the King of France that Joan of Arc is really endowed with supernatural powers. In a somewhat similar vein, the opening words of the American Declaration of Independence Read More

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Shakespeare, Inequality and Society

ARVIRAGUS Are we not brothers? IMOGEN So man and man should be; But clay and clay differs in dignity, Whose dust is both alike.” (Cymbeline, act 4, sc. 1) “…Methinks I see my father”, says Hamlet. “Where my lord?” asks Horatio. “In my mind’s eye”, replies Hamlet. And it is in our minds’ eye that, Read More

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Shakespeare, Obedience, Bees and Society

“Obedience: for so work the honey bees, Creatures that, by rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts.” (King Henry V, act 1, sc. 2) At the end of the 19th century Leo Tolstoy directly observed instances of sheer (Russian) state brutality. He Read More

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Shakespeare and the Exchanged Prisoner Bergdahl

“Thus may poor fools Believe false teachers: though those that are betray’d Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe” Cymbeline, act 3, sc. 4 Sometimes an episode, like a good novel, sheds more light on the history of the times than academic essays written by experts. Such is Read More

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Shakespeare, Patriotism and Exceptionalism

“…there’s not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself.” Much Ado About Nothing, act 5, sc. 2 The term “Patria” or homeland is, of course, of Latin origin, meaning “land of the fathers”. In turn, presidents’ patriotic speeches celebrate the achievements of the inhabitants of their respective “land of the fathers” and, by Read More

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Shakespeare, Religion, Tolstoy and Martin Luther King

“…and sweet religion makes A rhapsody of words.” Hamlet, act 3, scene 4   Say “Tolstoy” and most of us think of “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina” and maybe of some of his short stories. Few, however, would associate Tolstoy with the philosophy of a Christian-anarchist. Though “anarchist”, given the usually negative connotation associated with Read More

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Shakespeare on Antiseptic and Anesthetic Words

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.” Romeo and Juliet, act 2, sc. 2 So says Juliet, thinking that, yes, Romeo is a Montague by last name, and as such an enemy of her family. But she does not care – so much so Read More

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Shakespeare and Parallel Revolutions. Ukraine and the Shays’ Rebellion

“Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either’s purpose” King Henry V, act 2, sc. 2 The Greek writer Plutarch is famous for his “Parallel Lives”, in which he arranged the biographies of famous figures of his time (1st  century AD), to outline and compare their moral virtues and their vices. Read More

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