Wit & Attitude Quote by Shannen Doherty

“To be a bitch or not to be a bitch” is Shakespeare put through a tabloid blender, and that’s exactly why it lands. Shannen Doherty isn’t reaching for Hamlet’s existential dread so much as hijacking his prestige to talk about a different kind of life-or-death: whether a woman in the spotlight is allowed to be difficult, direct, or simply unaccommodating without being publicly punished for it.

The joke is doing double duty. On the surface, it’s a punchy, self-aware one-liner; underneath, it’s a commentary on how celebrity culture (and workplace culture more broadly) polices women’s tone. Men get to be “intense,” “complicated,” “a perfectionist.” Women get a single, blunt noun that erases motive and context. By framing the choice as a dramatic dilemma, Doherty exposes the trap: you’re either “nice” in a way that keeps you safe and employable, or you assert boundaries and get branded.

The phrasing also winks at Doherty’s own media history. She’s long been cast as the “difficult” actress, a label that often functions as shorthand for “wouldn’t play along.” Quoting Hamlet turns that scarlet letter into a prop she controls. The subtext isn’t “I am a bitch.” It’s “I know the script you’ve written for me, and I can recite it better than you can.”