Are These Joker Quotes or Shakespeare Quotes?
Why so serious? When thinking of America’s favorite maniacal murderer in makeup, that is the question. To be or not to be? You know that is the question and you know who posed it. The Joker from Batman and William Shakespeare sure do have a way with words.
These two ingenious (or in Joker’s case, insane) inquiries etch an indelible mark in entertainment’s fabric. One scars our lexicon’s ledger, the other transcends philosophy and play, love and literature, eye-widening performances, and eye-rolling attempts at high brow-humor that, in the wrong company, draws high eyebrow raises, rather than laughs.
You beam with confidence when asked if you can differentiate William Shakespeare and Arthur Fleck (Joker’s real name). You’re positive you can decipher Hamlet from Hamill, Moore from Macbeth, Nicholson from Norfolk. Like Joker does Batman’s patience or Shakespeare analysis does the jock who wants to tackle Romeo literally instead of literary, this quiz puts you to the test. Take this quiz and find out if the real joker is you, or if you have achieved Joker and Shakespeare quote detection at the best level of Shakespeare’s mastery of the words in the English language.
Joker Quotes
Joker quotes were the lifeblood of 2008 memes and the other bane of Batman's existence. Shakespeare quotes are the delight of wise art directors and dreading of men whose mind wanders to different plans for world domination than Julius Caesar's. These famous worlds share more things in common than many people think.
Batman and Joker's paring is often considered the most famous pairing in modern fiction. Fans and critics refer to the rugged relationship as Shakespearian, due to its tragic circle of irrefutable damage drawn by the ultimate moralistic dilemma Batman demonstrates and Joker desecrates. To kill or not to kill poses as formidable a question for Batman regarding Joker as "To be or not to be" does for Hamlet.
Society celebrated Shakespeare's showmanship, writing abilities, and actors' success portraying his iconic characters on stage. Similarly, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Mark Hamill, Cesar Romero, and Joaquin Phoenix received acclaim upon their role as Joker. It's true, Shakespeare's material resides in the pantheon of playwright greatness and Joker's celebrated, crazed antics come in comics that for years were heckled as a "lesser" art. However, Joker's tales across media, ranging from some of the highest-acclaimed video games, graphic novels, Oscar-winning movies, and celebrated television shows, showers the bad villain with as much good admiration and anticipation as any in the world.
