For those English majors and late night comedians.
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” It is that so few people see it his way: The Bard wasn’t knocking lawyers, much less endorsing a litigicidal rampage, he says, but defending them.
The line comes from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI, Part 2” and is spoken by Dick the Butcher, the dopey henchman of rebel leader Jack Cade.
According to the attorneys’ interpretation—one supported by many but not all English scholars—Shakespeare’s point is to portray lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law who stand in the way of a fanatical mob.
via Shakespeare Says ‘Lets Kill All the Lawyers,’ but Some Attorneys Object – WSJ.