How to Solve the Shakespeare Puzzle in Silent Hill 3

Last Updated: March 29, 2019

Silent Hill 3 is the third installment in the Silent Hill video game series. It is considered to be a survival horror video game in which your character must solve different puzzles and psychological challenges in order to advance. The Shakespeare puzzle can be found during the Shopping Center stage. It’s inside a bookstore called My Bestsellers.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Solving the puzzle on Easy Mode

1
Pick up the Shakespeare books that have fallen on the ground. In this difficulty, there will only be 2 books on the ground: Anthology 1 and Anthology 3.
2
Examine the bookshelf. You’ll be allowed to place the books you found on the floor in the empty slots.

Advertisement
3
Click on Anthology 1 and place it on the first slot of the bookshelf.
4
Click on Anthology 3 and place it on the third slot on the bookshelf. A code will appear after placing the two books correctly.
5
Use the code on the door at the back side of the bookstore.
- In this puzzle, you only need to arrange the books in the proper order: (from left to right) Anthology 1, Anthology 2, Anthology 3, Anthology 4, and then Anthology 5.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Solving the puzzle on Normal Mode

1
Read the note on the door. It will read “Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Put these books out of order.”
2
Pick up all the books on the floor. There will be 5 books in normal mode.
3
Examine the bookshelf. You’ll be allowed to place the books on the empty space on the shelf.
- Put the books in randomly; order doesn’t matter as this puzzle is generated randomly.
4
Take a good look at the books. You’ll see there are black markings on it; this is the code you need.
5
Arrange the books until you get the correct order. It won’t be too hard as the numbers are written quite obviously.
- Try to make out the numbers written on the spine of the books and keep moving them until you get it right.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Solving the puzzle on Hard Mode

1
Know the title of each anthology book. In order to find the title of the book, you’ll need to open your inventory and choose to examine the book.
- Anthology 1 is Romeo and Juliet
- Anthology 2 is King Lear
- Anthology 3 is Macbeth
- Anthology 4 is Hamlet
- Anthology 5 is Othello
2
Decipher the first stanza of the clue.
- This stanza mentions “The first words at thy left hand.”
- This is an instruction for solving the puzzle; meaning you’ll need to arrange the books from left to right.
3
Place Anthology 4 on the first spot on the left side of the bookshelf. The first stanza mentions “false lunacy” and “incomprehensible words,” which is a reference to the plot of Hamlet.
4
Place Anthology 1 on the second spot of the bookshelf. The second stanza is the easiest to decipher “playing at death” and “nameless lover” refers to the last part of Romeo and Juliet.
5
Place Anthology 5 on the third spot on the bookshelf. This stanza is a reference to Othello, referring to the innocence of Desdemona and the lies of Iago.
6
Place Anthology 2 on the fourth spot on the bookshelf. This stanza refers to the story of King Lear, where his daughter Cordelia refuses to speak about how much she loves her father as opposed to the false flattery of her sisters.
7
Place Anthology 3 on the last spot on the bookshelf.
- And with all 5 books on the bookshelf you would have the correct code.
8
Decipher the last clue. 41523 is not the pass code; on the sixth stanza, you will be instructed to more.
- “41523—One vengeful man spilled blood for two” (Hamlet). This means you will have to double Hamlet, which is Anthology 4. Now our code is 81523.
- “81523—Two youths shed tears for 3”; this refers to Romeo and Juliet, so you must replace 1 with 3. Our code now is 83523.
- Finally, “3 witches disappear” (reference to Macbeth), which is Anthology 3. You’ll have to remove it from the code. The final pass code is 8352.
9
Enter the code on the door to unlock it.
- The puzzle in hard mode does not randomize; the code will always be 8352 on any Silent Hill 3 game.