Alexa, to be or not to be? Amazon’s smart assistant has learnt to speak Shakespearean and can now recite popular lines, soliloquies and insults
- Alexa can now say a Shakespearean insult, sonnet, soliloquy limerick and more
- Amazon has released the update to mark Shakespeare Day which is on April 23
- Research also shows a lack of knowledge about origin of Shakespearean phrases
Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa has learnt to speak recite lines from the works of William Shakespeare, to mark his official day of celebration today.
Users can ask Alexa to ‘speak like Shakespeare’ for a variety of responses, as well as ask to recite a Shakespearean sonnet and soliloquy and even a famous insult.
When asked to recite a Shakespearean insult, Alexa may reply, ‘The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril’ from The Merry Wives of Windsor.
The digital assistant may also reply, ‘You starveling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish’ from Henry IV, Part 1.
Alexa powers the company’s Echo speakers, including the spherical fourth generation Echo released last autumn.
Get into the spirit of Shakespeare Day 2021 like this chap in an Amazon promotional image. Alexa has learnt to speak Shakespearean and can now recite popular lines, soliloquies and insults. Shakespeare Day lands on April 23 – the date celebrated as his birthday, and also his deathday
Some of the other commands users can direct at Alexa include ‘speak like Shakespeare’ and ‘recite a Shakespearean soliloquy’, which have to be preceded by the activation word ‘Alexa’.
According to results from Amazon research revealed today, Brits use an average of 83 Shakespearean phrases a month.
The study of 2,000 Brits was conducted by Perspectus Global on behalf of Amazon Alexa during April this year.
‘To be or not to be’, ‘where for out thou Romeo’ and ‘all that glitters is not gold’ are just a few of the recognisable phrases coined by Shakespeare.
Amazon found 43 per cent of Brits admit to not knowing that the famous term ‘fair play’ was coined by Shakespeare.
‘Fair play’ was used in several of his plays, including The Tempest, when the character Miranda says: ‘Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it, fair play.’
The research also found 40 per cent of Brits don’t know ‘for goodness sake’ and 39 per cent don’t know ‘what’s done is done’ are derived from his plays.
‘For goodness sake’ from Henry VIII is the phrase used most by Brits, amounting to 120 times a year, the research found, with ‘fair play’ and ‘what’s done is done’, spoken by Lady Macbeth, close behind.
Despite lines from the playwright shaping the phrases we use today, 34 per cent admitted to struggling to understand the works of Shakespeare, while 47 per cent said they hadn’t read any Shakespeare since finishing their education.
Shakespeare Day lands on April 23 every year as it was the date of his death in 1616 aged 52, from a cause that has never been established.
April 23 is also the supposed date of his birth in 1564 – although whether or not he was ever actually born on that day is a fact lost to history.
The English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare, portrayed here in an illustration taken from Meyers Lexicon, is widely believed to have been the greatest dramatist of all time
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust believes April 23 is a good estimate for his birthday, however.
It explains on its website: ‘Shakespeare’s baptism is recorded in the Parish Register at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday 26 April 1564.
‘Baptisms typically took place within three days of a new arrival, and parents were instructed by the Prayer Book to ensure that their children were baptised no later than the first Sunday after birth.
‘This means that it’s unlikely that Shakespeare was born any earlier than the previous Sunday, 23 April.
‘Given that three days would be a reasonable interval between birth and baptism, 23 April has therefore come to be celebrated as his birthday.’