15 SAD WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S QUOTES

15 SAD WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE QUOTES (with context and explantions) for when you are feeling stressed, disillusioned, or melancholic

William Shakespeare, the greatest poet and playwright of the English Language, is a master of words. He never failed in capturing majestically every emotion that a human can feel in a lifetime and perhaps even more. Literature can make us feel less lonely, misunderstood, and alone with our personal battles. That's why I collected these 15 quotes written by the Baron of Avon, the most well-known and revolutionary English writer of all time, hoping that his powerful writing can reassure those who are not feeling well at the moment. 
I provided a brief explanation of all the citations I have chosen to make them more comprehensible.

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1. Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summers's cloud

Without our special wonder? You make me strange

Even to the disposition that I owe

(Shakespeare - Macbeth, act III, scene iv)

This quote is taken from Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The protagonist of the story, Macbeth, also known by the title of Thane of Cawdor, is an ambitious, egoist man, who will be blinded by the idea of power throughout the play. I found plenty of quotes from this work of Shakespeare that express, through the dialogues and monologues, guilt, fear, and anxiety of being under attack, of losing battles and power, and of dying. 

In this one quote in particular Macbeth has just seen the ghost of Banquo, which he indirectly murdered, at the banquet. Lady Macbeth, his wife, reproaches him because he has shown fear in front of his subjects. With these words reported Macbeth asks how can someone see something so scary as a ghost and remain quiet, showing no fear. Macbeth doubts that he is brave and coldblooded like his wife.

2. How heavy do I journey on the way,

When what I seek, my weary travel’s end,

Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,

‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!’

From Shakespeare's Sonnet n. 50: How heavy do I journey on the way

These verses are taken from  the Sonnet n. 50, witch is part of the sequence dedicated to the Fair Beauty. (from 1 to 126). The poem is centered around the speaker's sorrow for the separation from a young man. He describes the burden he has on his chest caused by the journey that distances him from his friend. He knows that at the end of his long journey, only the thought of all the miles that isolate him from his beloved one will keep him company. This is one of the saddest and most melancholic sonnets of Shakespeare.

3. Doubtful it stood, 

as two spent swimmers that do cling together

And choke their art

From Shakespeare, Macbeth, act I, scene II

These are the words used by the Captain in Act I to describe the horrible situation in which their army (referred to in the quote with the pronoun "it") was before the arrival of Macbeth. King Duncan listens to the incredible and fearless deeds of his cousin Macbeth, who slaughtered ruthlessly his enemies with his bloody sword. Little did Duncan know what Macbeth is capable of to obtain power.

4. I would my father look'd but with my eyes

Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream, act I, scene i

These words are pronounced at the very beginning of the play by Hermia, one of the protagonists of the play. Forced by her father to marry a man she doesn't love, she escapes into the woods, breaking every rule to gain the freedom to choose. But before these events, she utters the words that I quoted, wishing that her father could see the situation from her perspective, avoiding being misunderstood and silenced, something that happens quite frequently to girls her age.

5. How happy o'er other some can be!

Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream, act I, scene ii

These words are cried out by Helena in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream . They are quite explicable on their own: The girl laments the fact that Hermia is way happier than her: Hermia is loved by the man she loves back, unlike her.

6. The human mortals want their winter cheer:

No night is now with hymn or carol blest

Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream, act II, scene i

Titania, the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, laments the terrible consequences that Oberon, the King of the Fairies, has caused to humans and nature. He interrupted the Titania's and the Faires' dances to honor the wind. Nature has gotten angry and has ruined the hard work of the humans in the fields. She is saying that humans cannot have the winter they want, they cannot be happy and celebrate Christmas. These words are full of sorrow: we all know how sad we can become when Christmas cannot give us the usual joy anymore.

7. Only look up clear

to alter favour ever is to fear

Leave all the rest to me

From Shakespeare, Macbeth, act I, scene V

These words uttered by Lady Macbeth without context seem to have the intent of empowering and of reassuring a shaking heart. In fact, on their own, they achieve their goal. But in the original story they also subtly try to manipulate and convince the interlocutor, Macbeth, to be as determined as she is. Lady Macbeth suggests her husband stop showing fear (and also guilt) and doubt.  In the last sentence she underlines her determination and her confidence.

8. Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye

Even that your pity is enough to cure me. 

From Shakespeare's Sonnet 111: O for my sake do you with fortune chide

These are the last two lines (the couplet) of the sonnet n.111. The poet is addressing the Fair Beauty. In the last two lines, as usual, we have the turn, or volta, of the poem. He asks the Fair Beauty to pity him, and with his care and attention, he will be able to recover. 

9.  “I fear too early, for my mind misgives; 

Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date"

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act I, scene I

Romeo fears that something baleful will happen soon. He and his friends are going to the feast organized by the Capulets. With these words Shakespeare wants to anticipate the tragic end of the play, and also remarke that the fatal destiny of the two lovers was already decided by the Fate, written in the stars.

10.  This day's black fate on mo days doth depend:

This but begins the woe others must end

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act III, scene i

Romeo and Juliet isn't only the most famous and popular love story of all times, but also a tragedy about a bloody feud between families, about death, and revenge. Romeo pronouces these words after the death of his friend Mercuzio at the hands of Tybalt, Juliet's cousin.

11. To cry to th' sea tha roared to us; to sigh

to th'winds, whose pity, sighing back again,

did us but loving wrong

Shakespeare, The Tempest, act I, scene ii

The Tempest is one of the most melancholic and sad plays of Shakespeare, the last one he wrote before abandoning the theater. In this play, there are a lot of terrible moments of complete despair. In this quote, in particular, Prospero (the main character) is narrating to his daughter the horrible details of his exile from Naples. Usurpated from his throne by his brother, he's forced to abandon his land on a wrecked ship, without anything but his books and his little daughter. The weather mirrors the sadness of Prospero: the sea was rough and the wind was blowing during their horrible journey.

12. I, not rememb'ring how I cried out then,

will cry it o'er again

Shakespeare, The Tempest, act I, scene ii

This passage is quite simple to understand: Miranda can't remember the horrible things that his father had to go through because she was too little. But now she cries imagining them.

13. Oh, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,

And age in love loves not to have years told.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 138, lines 10-11

These lines about love, taken from Sonnet 138 sound extremely disillusioned and

disenchanted. The sonnet is part of the sequence dedicated to the Dark Lady. The focus of

the poem is on the difficult relationship of the speaker (probably William Shakespeare

himself) with the Dark Lady and how their love is based on lies. Sadly, they are both aware

of their falsehood with one another, even though they pretend to trust each other. The speaker lies about his age, while the lady lies about her faithfulness.

14. By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown,

Unless this general evil they maintain:

All men are bad, and in their badness reign.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 121, lines 12-13-14

In this sonnet (part of the Fair Beauty sequence) the speaker acknoledges he has committed

adultery. However, he refuses to be heavily judged by those who are as sinnful as him. In

the ryhming couplet he remarkes that: he shouldn't be condemned by those hypocrats unless

they admit (and recognize) their evil deeds

15. The clouds methought would open, and show riches

ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,

I cried to dream again

Shakespeare, The Tempest, act III, scene iii

I kept my favourite quote for last. The Tempest, as I have already said, is a gloomy, sad comedy. I know it can sound like an oxymoron, but the Tempest is considered a comedy because we have a happy ending and no one dies. Caliban in particular is an ambiguous and complex character. He surely is capable of evil deeds, but at the same time in certain parts of the story, we understand how life was not easy with him, and how he shows sensibility and deep emotions when he talks about his beloved island, like in these lines I quoted. Caliban says here that dreams can give us sweet illusions of obtaining what we desire. But when this happens, how painful the awakening becomes! And with what ardor do we wish to go back to that dream!