I was watching “The Supremes” episode of West Wing recently and remembered how much I love this quote. This episode actually has two Shakespeare references. The other is a line from Julius Caesar that is quoted by a Senator in reference to his nephew. The “lean and hungry” line is one of my favorites from Shakespeare but is vastly underused. I wonder in today’s climate how many view these two plays with the same eyes as old. They speak to men abusing authority only to be brought down later. How hollow is an office when the political faithful issue the commandments of leadership, instead of those endowed with the responsibility to lead?

Today in 1367, Richard II of England was born in Bordeaux, France

King Richard II: For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison’d by their wives: some sleeping kill’d;
All murder’d: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear’d and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humour’d thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!

Image: Abdication of Richard II of England

This post is part of my collection of resources relating to teaching Shakespeare in the Classroom. To read more or see other resources just follow the link.