William Shakespeare
13 EVERYDAY PHRASES THAT CAME
FROM SHAKESPEARE
PowerPoint by Sarah Moje via
www.BrightHubEducation.Com
“ GREEN EYED MONSTER”
✕
✕
✕
✕
From Othello
It means jealousy.
Iago describes jealousy as a monster which
devours its source.
“Oh, beware my lord, of jealousy! It is the green
eyed monster which doth mock the meat it
feeds on.”
“IN A PICKLE”
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
From: The Tempest
It means a difficult or uncomfortable situation.
In the play King Alonso asks his Jester Trinculo
“How camest though in this pickle?”
The literal meaning in Shakespeare’s time was
How did you get so drunk.
“THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER”
✕
✕
✕
✕
From The Merry Wives of Windsor
It means to be in a position to take advantage of
life’s opportunities.
In the play, Falstaff refuses to lend Pistol any
money. Pistol responds by saying:
“Why then, the world’s mine oyster, which I with
sword will open.”
CATCH A COLD
✕
✕
✕
✕
✕
From Cymbeline
It means to get sick.
“We will have these things set down by lawful
counsel, and straight away, lest the bargain
should catch cold and starve…”
In other words, if the deal takes to long, it will
fall apart.
Shakespeare created the idea of COLD causing
illness.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME
✕
✕
✕
From Julius Caesar
Meaning: Something incomprehensible.
Cassius asks Casca which Cicero said. Casca
replies “but, for my own part, it was Greek to
me.”
LOVE IS BLIND
From The Merchant of Venice
✕ Means: an inability to see the shortcomings of
the one you love.
✕ “But love is blind and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit.”
✕
WILD GOOSE CHASE
✕
✕
✕
✕
From: Romeo and Juliet
Means: A hopeless and never ending pursuit.
Mercutio says “nay, if our wits run the wild
goose chase, I am done, for thou has more of
the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure,
I have it my whole five.”
Mercutio is saying to Romeo that he would
never win in a battle of wit against Romeo.
A HEART OF GOLD
✕
✕
✕
✕
From: Henry V
Means: A very kind and honorable person.
When asked to name a better man then the
king, Pistol states that he cannot.
“The king’s a bawcock, and a heart of gold, a lad
of life..”
BREAK THE ICE
✕
✕
✕
✕
From: The Taming of the Shrew
Means: to start conversation
The father in the play has 2 daughters, one
older and shrewish, the other young and
modest. It is suggested to him that the he
search for a man to marry the elder daughter,
so the younger one can marry who she wants.
“And if you break the ice, and do this feat,
achieve the elder, set the younger free.”
LAUGHING STOCK
✕
✕
✕
From: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Means: a person who is subject to ridicule
Pray you, let us not be laughing stocks to other
men’s humors.
WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE
✕
✕
✕
From: Othello
Means: to openly express your emotions so that
others notice.
Iago says that he will “wear my heart upon my
sleeve for daws to peck at. I am not what I am.”
DOGS OF WAR
✕
✕
✕
✕
From Julius Caesar
Means: Soldiers and the brutality of war
Mark Antony says to Brutus and Cassius “Cry
Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war.”
He states this after Caesar’s assassination,
meaning that the death of Caesar will cause a
great war.
METHOD TO HIS MADNESS
✕
✕
✕
✕
From: Hamlet
Means: Someone’s strange behavior has a real
purpose.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method
in it.”
Hamlet spends much of the play acting strange,
but in reality he is plotting revenge.