As for me, I have to pick Richard III
"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;...

this is easy:

"who’s there?"

Perhaps it’s in Shakespeare’s final play - ’The Tempest’.

Master: "Boatswain!"



Of course we have our preferences, but to make them truly "meaningful" and interesting - please explain why you chose them. I loved both your choices, but what is Shakespeare really saying - e.g., the implications of the lines (lions) you quoted and why are they so profound or brilliant for you?

For me - the "Master" is the invisible ruler (he does not directly "communicate" with the crew), perhaps even Shakespeare himself within the plays and the "Boatswain" is the obvious ruler who follows his Master’s orders, by trying to maintain "order", while attempting to save the "ship of state".

Of course, there is the issue of the character of the one who prescribes "order" in the "storm" (chaos/revolution) perhaps even an overture of Jesus Christ’s calming the storm in the New Testament. The point is that there is an order given, there is a Master and there is a Boatswain as an intermediary between the people and the true ruler, even though the Master remains aloof from the rest of the "crew". The Master rules supreme because of his superior knowledge of the sea (see), navigation, nature, the crew and the ship, but also because he is just, wise, virtuous and good - the Master perhaps even being a mirror of the self-educated and now wiser Prospero who passes on his Dukedom to his young offspring (his name meaning "prosperous").

As King John can only dream about, in ’The Tempest’, literally everyone returns "home".

"In sooth I know not why I am so sad"

--The Merchant of Venice.

(Do you think "sooth" was slang for "truth"?)

Psycho Boyfriend Magnet wrote:
"In sooth I know not why I am so sad"



--The Merchant of Venice.



(Do you think "sooth" was slang for "truth"?)

According to the OED, the phrase "in sooth" means "truly." Sooth is an archaic word for truth and its origins are Germanic. I don’t think it was slang, but I do believe it was part of the lexicon of the day.