“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” William Shakespeare?
The quote “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” comes from William Shakespeare’s play Henry VI, Part 2.
Play Context
It’s spoken by Dick the Butcher, a henchman of the rebel Jack Cade in Act 4, Scene 2. Cade leads a chaotic uprising against authority, and Dick suggests eliminating lawyers as a step toward anarchy, since they uphold laws and order.
Common Misinterpretation
Often taken out of context as an anti-lawyer jab, it actually highlights lawyers’ vital role in protecting society from tyranny. Shakespeare ironically shows Cade’s rebels targeting them first to dismantle justice.
Modern Usage
The line endures in legal circles as a backhanded compliment to the profession’s importance. It reflects timeless tensions between law and rebellion.
Why is the quote often misinterpreted as hating lawyers
The quote is often misinterpreted as anti-lawyer due to its surface-level reading and cultural tropes.
Quote Isolation
Taken alone, the line sounds like a blunt call for violence against lawyers, ignoring its ironic context in Henry VI, Part 2 where a rebel proposes it to enable chaos.
Cultural Stereotypes
Lawyers face widespread disdain as greedy, argumentative, or obstructive—associations amplified by media and jokes that echo the quote without nuance.
Historical Distortion
Over centuries, it’s been repurposed as a lawyer-bashing punchline, stripping Shakespeare’s intent to praise their role in upholding order against anarchy.
