--- title: Bristol Man Texting Shakespeare to Gumtree Seller in Revenge Plot description: An English man is reportedly texting a seller the entire works of Shakespeare after he was reportedly ripped off by the website. canonical: https://time.com/29070/man-reportedly-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-shakespeares-entire-works/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-18T19:31:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:07:55.148Z og:title: Man Gets Revenge on Scammer by Texting Him Shakespeare's Entire Works og:description: He was never interested in Shakespeare until now og:url: https://time.com/29070/man-reportedly-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-shakespeares-entire-works/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4849fbe3bc09af58/6986861406f2c125a032defe/464420221.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Cobbe portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), c1610. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Gets Revenge on Scammer by Texting Him Shakespeare's Entire Works twitter:description: He was never interested in Shakespeare until now twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4849fbe3bc09af58/6986861406f2c125a032defe/464420221.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Reportedly Gets Revenge on Scammer by Texting Him Shakespeare's Entire Works  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 18, 2014 7:31 PM UTC  The Cobbe portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), c1610\. Private Collection. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) The Cobbe portrait of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), c1610\. Private Collection. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 18, 2014 7:31 PM UTC An Englishman is trying to get even with an Internet seller who has not come through with an order by texting him entire William Shakespeare plays to annoy him, [_The Bristol Post_](http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-man-gets-revenge-texting-works/story-20823040-detail/story.html) and [CNET.co.uk](http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/brit-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-all-of-shakespeare-50013508/) report via [SWNS](http://swns.com/news/designer-ripped-gumtree-conman-sends-entire-works-shakespeare-text-45949/). Edd Joseph, 24, of Bristol, England, reportedly has yet to receive an £80 PS3 that he ordered from the classifieds website [Gumtree](http://www.gumtree.com). He’s now taking revenge by copying the full text of plays like _Hamlet_, _Macbeth_, and _Othello_, and pasting them into text messages to the seller, which he sends online. So far, he’s texted 22 full plays, which amounts to 17, 424 texts. Joseph claims to have an unlimited data plan. “If nothing else I’m sharing a little bit of culture with someone who probably doesn’t have much experience of it,” Joseph told [_The Bristol Post_](http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristol-man-gets-revenge-texting-works/story-20823040-detail/story.html). “I’m not a literary student, and I’m not an avid fan of Shakespeare but I’ve got a new appreciation you could say – especially for the long ones.” But if he [read _Hamlet_](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.2.2.html) as he was texting it, then he would know that “brevity is the soul of wit.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/29070/man-reportedly-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-shakespeares-entire-works/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/29070/man-reportedly-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-shakespeares-entire-works/"},"headline":"Man Reportedly Gets Revenge on Scammer by Texting Him Shakespeare's Entire Works","datePublished":"2014-03-18T19:31:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:07:55.148Z","description":"An Englishman is trying to get revenge for being scammed by an online seller by texting him the entirety of various William Shakespeare plays after he failed to receive a PlayStation 3 he thought he ordered at a great price","url":"https://time.com/29070/man-reportedly-gets-revenge-on-scammer-by-texting-him-shakespeares-entire-works/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4849fbe3bc09af58/6986861406f2c125a032defe/464420221.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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