QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Hamlet ACT/SCENE: 3.2 SPEAKER: Gertrude CONTEXT: HAMLET
Madam, how like you this play?
GERTRUDE
The lady protests too much, methinks.
HAMLET
O, but she’ll keep her word.
CLAUDIUS
Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in ’t? DUTCH: De dame verzekert te veel, dunkt me. /
De dame, dunkt mij, protesteert te gul. /
Ik vind dat de koningin veel te veel belooft.
MORE: Often misquoted starting with “methinks”. Also because in Shakespeare’s time the word ‘protest’ meant a solemn declaration (Asseveration), so in Hamlet this implied that the Queen was too excessive to be believable. Modern usage: for overly emphatic objections or denials.

CITED IN US LAW:

Sigma Financial Corp v Gotham Insurance Co. (2016 WL 7508172 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 22, 2016)).
Harris v. Reeves, 946 F.2d 214, 226 (3d Cir. 1991)(dissent);
Collazo v. Estelle. 940 F.2d 411,434 (9th Cir. 1991)(dissent);
Jenkins v. State of Missouri, 807 F.2d 657, 667 (8th Cir. 1986)(complaining of dissenter);
Rosen v. Aristocrat Angus Ranch, 639 F.2d 8~1 87 (2d Cir. 1980);
U.S. v. Chaffen, 587 F.2d 920, 923 (8th Cir. 1978);
Refco, Inc. v. Troika Investment Limited, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9508, at 32 (N.D.Ill.);
Hudson v. Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 101 F.R.D. 349, 354 lN.D.Ind. 1984); VanHuss v. Associated Milk Producers, Inc., 415 F.Supp. 356, 361 N.D.Tex. 1976);
McCormick v. Carnett-Partsnett System, Ine., 396 F.Supp. 251, 255 M.D.Fla.1975);
Jackson v. State, 452P.2d 104 (Alaska 1982);
Meyering v. General Motors Corporation, 232 Cal. App.3d 1163, 275 Cal. Rptr. 346 (1990);
People v. Santey, 220 Cal. App.3d 651, 661, 270 Cal. Rptr. 53 (1990);
Ogozalek v. Administrator, Unemployment Compensation Act, 22 Conn. Sup. 100, 163 A.2d 114 (Super.Ct. 1960);
Kunz v. Utah Power & Light Company, 117 Idaho 901, 908, 792 P.2d 926 (1990);
Jolley v. Puregro, 94 Idaho 702, 496 P.2d 939 (1972);
Benson v. Custer, 236 lowa 345, 17 N.W.2d 889, 895 (1945);
Parish v. Casner, 282 S.W.2d 392 (Mo. 1926). Topics: misquoted, still in use, cited in law