Alexa can now recite popular Shakespearian lines, soliloquies and insults. The new features come just in time for Shakespeare Day 2021 and Amazon also supplied us with the above and below images which, we have to say, are quite excellent. 

Amazon's own research of 2,000 Brits suggests that we all use 83 Shakespearean phrases a month. That seems like quite a lot to us, but these include terms such as fair play (43%), for goodness sake (40%) and what’s done is done (39%) which all come from popular plays by The Bard.

For goodness sake from Henry VIII is the phrase used most by Brits, around 120 times a year - or around a thousand times a year if you have children. 

Half of those surveyed, a third (34%) admit to struggling to understand the work of Shakespeare, with half (47%) claiming they haven’t read any Shakespeare since finishing school or university. 

Amazon

To hear the phrases, you can ask Alexa to "speak like Shakespeare" to get a random response or ask for her to recite a Shakespearean sonnet or soliloquy or give you a famous insult. 

The research also found that “for goodness sake”, from Shakespeare’s H, with “fair play”, most famously from The Tempest and “what’s done is done”, spoken by Lady Macbeth, close behind. 

What you can ask Alexa: 

Alexa, speak like Shakespeare
Alexa, tell me a Shakespearean insult
Alexa, Romeo, Romeo, where-fore art thou Romeo?
Alexa, to be or not to be?
Alexa, recite a Shakespearean Sonnet
Alexa, recite a Shakespearean Soliloquy
Alexa, tell me a Shakespearean limerick