King's Quest Omnipedia
Register
Advertisement

Book of Rosella's favorites that contains all the plays of William Shakespeare. It was found also in Whateley Manor. Derek Karlavaegen speaks of a lost play, Henry IV, Part III, which is said to speak of Daventry (a city in the Other World). It also contains the Shakespearean soliloquys

Note: Many of the titles to the plays are not given in the official King's Quest Universe (though they may appear in fan games). The titles are offered below to clarify the source of the quotes.

Contained within the Shakespeare book, are all the wonderful plays of the playright, William Shakespeare.[1]

Selected passages[]

Hamlet[2][]

To be or not to be.
To hold, 'twere, the mirror up to nature;
to show virtue her own feature, scorn her
own image, and the very age and body of
time his form and pressure.
'Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breaths out
Contagion to this world.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Romeo and Juliet[3][]

He jests at scars, but never felt a wound.
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is east, and Juliet is the sun!
See! How she leans her cheek upon her hand

O! that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek.
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
What is in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet.
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove beautieous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Henry VI, Part III[4][]

Forebear to judge, for we are sinners all.
Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close;
And let us all to meditation.
...Daintry...
In thy face I see
The map of honor, truth, and loyalty.

Richard III[]

  • A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse![5]
  • No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.
  • Look, how my ring encompasseth thy finger,
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
  • O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days.[6]
  • Is the chair empty?
Is the sword unswayed?
Is the king dead?
The empire unpossessed?
The world is grown so bad,
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.

A Midsummer Night's Dream[]

I am the merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a silly foal:
And sometimes lurk I in gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of roast crab.
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
Come not near our fairy queen.
Love looks not with eyes, but with mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Titus Andronicus[]

Tut! I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly.

Richard II[]

Of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth;
Let's choose executors and talk of wills.
Your may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.
How sour sweet music is when
time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.

The Taming of the Shrew[]

Kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday.


King John[]

The day shall not be up so soon as I,
To try the fair adventure of tomorrow.
I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way
Among the thorns and dangers of this world.
Bell, book and candle shall not drive me back.
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makes ill deeds done![7]

The Merchant of Venice[]

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world!

Behind the scenes[]

The existence of such a book might seem impossible for the reason that the wholeness of Shakespeare's 38 or so plays (historians argue on the exact number of plays Shakespeare actually wrote or collaborated on, rather than those posthumously attributed to him) would seem too large for a single book. However, similar books really exist, such as the The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. They generally use thin parchment paper, and are over a thousand pages.

The inventory item that is related to this is known as the Shakespeare Book.

The quote: "So, all's well, that ends well. Until next time...! Good-bye!" at the end of King's Quest 4, is a reference to the play All's Well That Ends Well

References[]

  1. Narrator (KQ4):"You open the Shakespeare book and thumb through its pages. Contained within it, are all the wonderful plays of the playwright William Shakespeare.
  2. KQC2E, pg
  3. King's Questions
  4. KQC2E, pg
  5. Richard III
  6. Richard III
  7. King John
Advertisement