Shakespeare Reference in The Red Sox Fan’s Little Book Of Wisdom

Curt Smith’s The Red Sox Fan’s Little Book Of Wisdom: A Fine Sense Of The Ridiculous contains one Shakespeare reference. Each page has its own playful title, and one of those titles is “The fault lies in ourselves, not our stars” (p. 19). That refers to Cassius’ speech to Brutus in Act I Scene ii of Julius Caesar, where he says, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,/But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

The Red Sox Fan’s Little Book Of Wisdom: A Fine Sense Of The Ridiculous was first published in 1994. My copy is the Second Edition, published in 2002.

Shakespeare References in A Woman Of Substance

Barbara Taylor Bradford’s novel A Woman Of Substance contains several Shakespeare references. The first is a reference to Hamlet. Barbara Taylor Bradford writes, “Now he faced it, recognizing that at times she had been like mad Ophelia, wandering dazedly around the upstairs corridors in bewilderment, a glazed expression on her face, her hair in disarray, the floating chiffon peignoir she favored enveloping her like a nimbus” (p. 156). The next is to The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth, with Bradford writing, “‘Aye, dead as a doornail,’ Murgatroyd muttered tersely, his darkening face revealing his distress, which was most genuine” (p. 303). The phrase “dead as a doornail” was used by the character Jack Cade, who in the fourth act 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.”

The book is divided into several sections, each one beginning with a quoted passage. The third part begins with these lines from Julius Caesar: “‘Tis a common proof,/That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder,/Whereto the climber-upward turns his face” (p. 373). Brutus speaks those word in the first scene of the second act. There is also a reference to The Merchant Of Venice: “The Fairleys had had their pound of flesh and the uniforms certainly wouldn’t fit the bovine Annie” (p. 421). The next is a reference to Shakespeare himself: “He ought to be exposed to literature, such as the plays of Shakespeare, the novels of Dickens, Trollope, and Thackeray, philosophical works and histories” (pages 480-481). The final reference is to The Third Part Of King Henry The Sixth. Barbara Taylor Bradford writes: “He grinned and touched the tip of her nose playfully. ‘O tiger’s heart wrapp’d in a woman’s hide!” (p. 633). That very line, “O, tiger’s heart wrapp’d in a woman’s hide,” was used in the earliest known criticism of Shakespeare, part of which reads, “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his tiger’s heart wrapped in a player’s hide,” playing on Shakespeare’s line. The line is spoken by York to Queen Margaret. Barbara Taylor Bradford continues, having the character admit: “Stolen from Shakespeare, I must confess. Henry VI” (p. 633).

A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979. The First Avon Printing was in May, 1980. I think the copy I read was from 1984.

Shakespeare Reference in Dude, Where’s My Country?

After re-reading Stupid White Men, it seemed right to revisit Dude, Where’s My Country?, Michael Moore’s next book. And this one too contains a Shakespeare reference. It comes in a chapter title. The third chapter is titled “Oil’s Well That Ends Well” (p. 85), a play on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. That chapter title is mentioned again in the “Notes and Sources” section toward the end of the book, on p. 229. Dude, Where’s My Country? was published in 2003. My copy is from the First Printing, October 2003.

Shakespeare References in Stupid White Men

I’ve been re-reading some of my old books, and it seemed a good time to revisit Stupid White Men. There are two Shakespeare references in the book. Well, really, there is just one, for the second one comes in the “Notes And Sources” section. Moore writes: “And who gives a rat’s ass if, out of the seventy English Literature programs at seventy major American universities, only twenty-three now require English majors to take a course in Shakespeare? Can somebody please explain to me what Shakespeare and English have to do with each other? What good are some moldy old plays going to be in the business world, anyway?” (p.92). The other reference, as I mentioned, comes in the “Notes And Sources” section for Chapter 5, specifically a title of a New York Times article. That article is “Much Ado – Yawn – About Great Books” by Emily Eakon, the title obviously a play on Much Ado About Nothing.

Stupid White Men was published in 2001. My copy is a First Edition.

Shakespeare References in Death, Bones, And Stately Homes

Death, Bones, And Stately Homes, a mystery written by Valerie S. Malmont, contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The first is to Romeo And Juliet, with Malmont writing: “That left me free to write my feature article about the tragic story of Rodney and Emily. I was determined not to make it the Lickin Creek version of Romeo and Juliet, because Romeo, as I remembered, was not perverted but only horny” (p. 142). The other is to King Lear. One of the characters says to Tori: “I wouldn’t have let you go to jail alone, Tori. I’d have ‘fessed up if it had come to that. ‘I’ll kneel down and ask of thee forgiveness: and we’ll live, and pray, and sing, and tell old tales and laugh at gilded butterflies…’ Am I forgiven?” (pages 203-204). The friend there is quoting King Lear’s lines to Cordelia as they are about to taken away to prison. Malmont has Tori respond: “Of course. I’ll always ‘laugh at gilded butterflies’ with you” (p. 204). Malmont continues: “Who wouldn’t forgive a best friend who could apologize with a quotation from King Lear? Alice-Ann had been an English literature major in college where we first met, and her ability to dredge something appropriate up from her memory for every occasion was truly amazing. The only reason I knew this particular quotation was from King Lear was because she’d used it on me several times before” (p. 204).

Death, Bones, And Stately Homes was published in 2003. The copy I read was the Worldwide Mystery edition from May 2005.

Shakespeare References in Chronicles Volume One

Bob Dylan’s autobiography Chronicles Volume One contains a few Shakespeare references. The first is a mention of Romeo And Juliet: “He wore a tomato-stained apron, had a fleshy, hard-bitten face, bulging cheeks, scars on his face like the marks of claws – thought of himself as a lady’s man – saving his money so he could go to Verona in Italy and visit the tomb of Romeo and Juliet” (p. 13). The next reference is sort of to Shakespeare and Macbeth. Dylan is writing about reading articles from the 1800s on microfilm. In his description of the various things he was reading about, Dylan writes: “There’s a riot in New York where two hundred people are killed outside of the Metropolitan Opera House because an English actor had taken the place of an American one” (p. 85). I assume he is referring to the so-called Shakespeare riot, which took place in 1849 outside the Astor Opera House. Thirty people were killed, not two hundred, but at least another one hundred fifty people were injured. This happened at a performance of Macbeth by the English actor William Charles Macready. The American actor Edwin Forrest was performing the same play nearby. The next reference is to one of Shakespeare’s most famous characters. Dylan writes: “Like Falstaff, I’d been heading from one play into the next, but now fate itself had played a nightmarish trick. I wasn’t Falstaff anymore” (p. 156). John Falstaff is in The First Part Of King Henry The Fourth, The Second Part Of King Henry The Fourth, and The Merry Wives Of Windsor, and is talked about in Henry The Fifth. The book’s final reference is to Shakespeare himself. Dylan writes, “He dressed in black from head to foot and would quote Shakespeare” (p. 261). He is talking about Paul Clayton there.

Chronicles Volume One was published in 2004. It was first published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK in 2004. The copy I read was published by Pocket Books in 2005. An imprint of Simon & Schuster UK.