Moira O'Neill

Are Shakespeare’s musings on money still relevant today?

You may this weekend have attended one of hundreds of events around the country to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Willliam Shakespeare’s death in 1616.

Few writers have ever caught our imagination like the Bard of Avon. Many of you will have studied his plays at secondary school, examining their universal themes of love, revenge, sorrow and comedy. But now personal finance is on the National Curriculum (it forms part of citizenship for 11-16-year-olds), could works such as Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice be used to educate children about managing their money? And can adults aiming to pay off debts and save for the future still learn anything from Shakespeare’s musings on money?

One of my favourite Shakespeare money quotes is from Iago (Othello, Act II, scene iii):

‘Poor and content is rich, and rich enough,

But riches fineless is as poor as winter

To him that ever fears he shall be poor.

Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend

From jealousy!’

The first line conveys the importance of frugality, which for many is the only way to make sure we can save enough for our retirements. I also like the final line’s message about not trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There are hundreds more quotes about money in Shakespeare’s enormous body of work – but perhaps not as many memorable ones as you would expect from 34,895 speeches in 37 plays, plus 154 sonnets.

Shakespeare seemed more concerned with the themes of love, revenge, comedy, ambition and violence than what we do with the money in our pockets. The Merchant of Venice, in which the plot hinges on a large loan provided by an abused Jewish moneylender, is perhaps the only ‘money’ play.

But the quote that first springs to mind when we think of Shakespeare musing on money issues, ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’, is actually from Hamlet, Act 1, Scene iii.

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