Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > Law

Did Shakespeare study Law?

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Farhana Helal Mehtab:
Dear Shah Alam & Orin,

Hope you are fine. I'm happy that you sometimes visit the forum.
Keep on trying.......

Love you,

Ma'am

Ferdousi Begum:
Quite often I read Shakespeare, but never think in this way.

Farhana Helal Mehtab:
Yes, without reading Shakespeare, knowing English literature will be incomplete. This statement came to me as a fact when I started doing my Masters in English Literature. And Ferdousi, as a law teacher, you know well the law & order system & situation of the then English countries. In some writings of Shakespeare those were reflected so wonderfully. In fact writers are the ambassadors of the time & era.

Thanks for thinking about law & Shakespeare.

ma'am

shahida sultana shimu:
Dear ma`am,
                     
                    It is that famous line, “the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.” No self-respecting lawyer would be seen dead without at least a mug or fridge magnet bearing that slogan around the office. But this is not a dagger I see before me. The quote appears in the mouth of Dick the Butcher, the rabble-rouser and follower of the rebel Jack Cade in Henry VI Part II. If Shakespeare had really wanted to attack the legal profession he would have given the words to a more attractive character. In the event, it is the “monstrous rebel” Cade who is killed, and Shakespeare pays lawyers the tacit compliment of listing “lawyers” alongside “scholars”, “courtiers” and “gentlemen” as Cade’s sworn enemies.
                                           when i read this column then i am clear that  Shakespeare likes the lawyers .i think that it is a great evidence for proving this fact.

Farhana Helal Mehtab:
In one way, you are right dear.  Some people are unfamiliar with the phrase The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyer. It often expresses the ordinary person's frustration with the complexity of law. Though the saying comes from one of Shakespeare's plays, but usually there's little awareness beyond that. This gap in knowledge has inspired a myth of ‘correction’, where it is ‘explained’ that this is line really intended as a praise of the lawyer's role. I’m just quoting one legal firm’s statement as for example,

"The first thing we do," said the character in Shakespeare's Henry VI, is "kill all the lawyers." Contrary to popular belief, the proposal was not designed to restore sanity to commercial life. Rather, it was intended to eliminate those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution -- thus underscoring the important role that lawyers can play in society.

I came to know that legal firm’s statement through the writing of Mr Finkelstein who is a software developer and Internet activist. He wrote, “As long as there are lawyer, there will be lawyer jokes. And lawyers will show how those jokes ring true by trying to explain how such lampooning really constitutes praise for their profession, thus by example justifying the jokes more than ever.”

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