Shakespeare References in The Moon Is Always Female

Marge Piercy’s book of poetry The Moon Is Always Female contains a few Shakespeare references, and interestingly all of them are to Othello. The first is in a poem titled “Under red Aries.” Piercy writes, “You are impossible, you know it,/holy March hairiness, my green/eyed monster” (p. 30). That refers to Iago’s lines about jealousy, “It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on.” The second reference might be a bit of a stretch, and I wouldn’t have listed it here at all were it not for the other two Othello references. But, anyway, in the poem “Arofa,” Piercy writes, “you want a monogamous relationship/ with me. Othella, if you were/big as me you’d have nipped/my head off in a fit” (p. 68). The name seems to be the female version of Othello, and the poem seems to be about a jealous cat. The final reference comes in “Shadows of the burning,” in which Piercy writes “Death at the open end of a gun/from a jealous man, a vengeful man/Othello’s fingers, Henry’s ax” (p. 101).

The Moon Is Always Female was published in 1980 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

 

Shakespeare References in Interview With The Vampire

Anne Rice’s novel Interview With The Vampire contains a few Shakespeare references. The first reference is to Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy. In the section where Louis describes his limited training as a vampire, Rice writes, “I was reacting too much as if the ‘mortal coil’ had not been shaken off” (p. 30). The next reference is also to Hamlet, this time to Horatio’s speech after Hamlet dies: “‘Good night, sweet prince,’ said Lestat ‘and here’s your fifty dollars’” (p. 71), a humorous variation on “Good night, sweet prince/And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

This book also contains a reference to Othello, and specifically to the moment when Othello is about to kill Desdemona. Rice writes: “‘Put out the light…and then put out the light,’ Lestat said softly. And then he took her into his arms like a struggling moth and sank his teeth into her” (p. 79). Clearly Lestat is a fan of Shakespeare’s works, which surprises Louis. Rice writes, “He loved the great figure we cut, the three of us in our box at the new French Opera House or the Theatre d’Orleans, to which we went as often as possible, Lestat having a passion for Shakespeare which surprised me” (p. 100). There is also a reference to King Lear, with Rice writing, “And suppose the vampire who made you knew nothing, and the vampire who made that vampire knew nothing, and the vampire before him knew nothing, and so it goes back and back, nothing proceeding from nothing, until there is nothing!” (p. 121). In Act I, after Cordelia answers, “Nothing,” Lear says, “Nothing will come of nothing.”

Annie Rice also refers to Macbeth. She writes: “He always wanted me along. I think I must have seen Macbeth with him fifteen times. We went to every performance, even those by amateurs, and Lestat would stride home afterwards, repeating the lines to me and even shouting out to passers-by with an outstretched finger, ‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow!’ until they skirted him as if he were drunk” (p. 129). The “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” line comes from my favorite speech of that play.

Interview With The Vampire was published in 1976. The copy I read was the Ballantine Books edition, which was first published in May of 1977. The copy I read was the thirtieth printing, from October of 1989.

Shakespeare References in Good As Gold

Joseph Heller’s novel Good As Gold contains a few Shakespeare references. The first is to a line from The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth. Heller has Gold’s father say: “Cancer. It ate her up. See that taxi driver, the funny one? Toyt. Like a doornail. A stroke” (p. 42). Though there is some evidence that Shakespeare did not invent the phrase “dead as a doornail,” it is from his work that most people learned it. In Act IV, Cade says, “Look on me well: I have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.” Shakespeare used the phrase again in The Second Part Of King Henry The Fourth. Falstaff asks, “What, is the old king dead?” And Pistol replies, “As nail in door.”

Later in the book, one of Gold’s students tells him that he is disappointed in the class Gold is teaching. The class is titled “Monarchy and Monotheism in Literature from the Medieval to the Modern,” and the student says, “But it seems to be a course in Shakespeare’s history plays” (p. 136). Heller then writes: “‘We’ll be moving on to the major tragedies soon,’ Gold answered breezily. ‘All but Othello and the Roman plays. In Othello, unfortunately, there is no monarch, and the Romans were not monotheistic” (p. 136). Heller has Gold explain the misleading course title: “We feel that anyone interested in literature ought to study Shakespeare and we know that few students will do so unless we call it something else” (p. 136). Then Gold tells him to major in Urban Studies. “But do it soon. Otherwise you might find me there in a year or two and have to read Shakespeare’s history plays all over again” (0. 137).

Good As Gold was published in 1979.