hamlet said methinks he doth protest too much.
hamlet said methinks he doth protest too much.
who said methinks he doth protest too much?
hamlet
the lady doth protest too much, methinks









































"the lady doth protest too much, methinks" is a line from the play "hamlet" by william shakespeare. it is spoken by queen gertrude in response to the insincere overacting of a character in the play within a play created by prince hamlet to prove his uncle's guilt in the murder of his father, the king of denmark.









































the phrase is used in everyday speech to indicate doubt concerning someone's sincerity. a common misquotation places "methinks" first, as in "methinks the lady doth protest too much".









































section::::in "hamlet".
the lady doth protest too much, methinks
her non-fiction books include "an atlas of irish history", "james connolly", "victor gollancz: a biography" (winner of the james tait black memorial prize), "the pursuit of reason: the economist 1843–1993", "the faithful tribe: an intimate portrait of the loyal institutions" (shortlisted for channel 4/the house politico's book of the year) and "newspapermen: hugh cudlipp, cecil king and the glory days of fleet street". her "patrick pearse: the triumph of failure" (winner of the national university of ireland prize for historical research), first published in 1977, was reissued in 2006 by irish academic press. in 2009 she published "aftermath: the omagh bombings and the families' pursuit of justice," a book about the civil case that was won on 8 june 2009 against the omagh bombers. "the faithful tribe" was criticised by ulster protestant journalist susan mckay as "sentimental and blinkered", but the "new statesman" contributor stephen howe described it as "engrossing and illuminating" and the irish independent journalist john a. murphy described it as "enormously readable, entertaining and informative", but "[her argument] 'extremely disingenuous'", and he quotes shakespeare, 'the lady doth protest too much, methinks', when describing one of her counter-arguments as 'exaggerated'. he added "historically in ireland, protestant `liberties' tended to mean protestant `privilege,' and many protestants (even including some united irishmen) doubted whether roman catholics were constitutionally capax libertatis capable of appreciating or enjoying liberty at all, because of roman tyranny and priest-craft. in short, the orange protestant is still benightedly living in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the southern catholic, whatever his past intolerances, has moved on.". in 2016 she published "the seven: the lives and legacies of the founding fathers of the irish republic" (oneworld), a re-examination of the easter rising, addressing the fundamental questions and myths surrounding the 1916 leaders.
ruth dudley edwards