2016 marks the 800th anniversary of the death of King John and the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. The premise of this article is that the dynamics of human motivation which Shakespeare attributed to individuals living four hundred years before he wrote, apply as well four centuries on, in the year of “Brexit”. Statistics will never tell us what led the majority of UK voters to vote “leave” on the fateful day of the EU referendum, but an appreciation of Shakespeare's King John promises to reveal something perennial about human motivations for dramatic action. It also promises to tell us a great deal about human responses, resolution and regret in the aftermath of an explosive enactment of political free will.

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君主、英镑和“也有一些混蛋！”：从莎士比亚的约翰国王看英国脱欧

2016 年是约翰国王逝世 800 周年和威廉莎士比亚逝世 400 周年。这篇文章的前提是，莎士比亚在他写作前四百年归因于个人的人类动机动态，也适用于四个世纪后的“英国退欧”年。统计数据永远不会告诉我们是什么导致大多数英国选民在欧盟公投这一决定性的日子投票“离开”，但对莎士比亚的约翰国王的欣赏有望揭示人类对戏剧性行动的长期动机。它还承诺会告诉我们很多关于在政治自由意志的爆炸性制定之后人类的反应、决心和遗憾。