Shakespeare seems to be everywhere.
He is the source of many familiar phrases, such as “too much of a good thing” (As You Like It), “pomp and circumstance” (Othello), and, in a way, “Knock, knock! Who’s there?” (Macbeth). Some writers borrow book titles from him: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air are both lines from The Tempest. There are Shakespeare contests and Shakespeare gardens, and an entire building, the Folger Shakespeare Library, is filled with books by and about him. And, of course, there are the movies.
At the 1997 Academy Awards, the English actor and director Kenneth Branagh said Shakespeare was the greatest storyteller ever to write for the movies. He was only partly joking. After the speech, the audience saw film clips from dozens of movies. They weren’t all from serious films. Some clips were from Bugs Bunny and Popeye cartoons. In a hit that Shakespeare didn’t write, Shakespeare in Love, he’s the star instead.
