I asked this question quickly on Twitter, but it’s really hard to explain it in short terms.
What I’m looking for is what would best be described as the most recognizable Shakespeare speeches. The kind of thing where, if you showed it to a regular person (not necessarily a Shakespeare Geek) they’d say “Oh, ok, yeah, I’ve heard that. That’s Shakespeare, right?”
I figure “To be or not to be” is up there. As is Henry’s “Band of Brothers” speech. When I asked on Twitter, a number of people went immediately to Marc Anthony’s funeral speech (“Friends, Romans, Countrymen…”) as well as the opening of Richard III (the winter of our discontent).
What else ya got? I’m not talking about one-liner quote/cliches that everybody knows, I’m talking a good chunk of lines that somebody might recite in various contexts. A speech that lasts long enough that, if someone started it, you’d have time to stop what you were doing and listen until it was done.
Doing research for one of my many side projects that may or may not ever see the light of day. 🙂