Shakespeare References in The Dead Zone

Stephen King’s The Dead Zone contains a few Shakespeare references, most of them related to Macbeth. The first is actually a reference to a Ray Bradbury book, itself a reference to Macbeth. King writes, “After the carousel came the mirror maze, a very good mirror maze as a matter of fact, it made her think of the one in Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, where the little-old-lady schoolteacher almost got lost forever” (p. 27). The title for Bradbury’s novel comes from the lines “By the pricking of my thumbs/Something wicked this way comes.” The next reference comes soon after that, when Johnny has called a taxi. It is that cab ride that really sets things in motion. King writes: “‘The deed’s done,’ he said, hanging up. ‘They’ll have a guy over in five minutes’” (p. 41). That is a reference to the line “I have done the deed,” spoken by Macbeth after the murder of Duncan. We then return to the witches for the next Macbeth reference: “The hurly burly’s done, the election’s lost and won” (p. 304). The lines from Macbeth read: “When the hurly-burly’s done/When the battle’s lost and won.” There soon follows another mention of the Ray Bradbury novel, this time coming within a letter that Chuck has written to Johnny: “P.S.: The foxy chick’s name is Stephanie Wyman, and I have already turned her on to Something Wicked This Way Comes” (p. 324). That is the book’s final reference to Macbeth. Interesting that its first and last Macbeth reference is to Something Wicked This Way Comes. But there is one more Shakespeare reference in The Dead Zone. Johnny has known for some time that he must kill a character named Greg Stillson, but he has understandably held off carrying out the deed. In a letter mailed to his father on the day he plans on finally killing the man, Johnny says: “It’s wrong, but it may turn out right. I don’t know. But I won’t play Hamlet any longer. I know how dangerous Stillson is” (p. 368).

The Dead Zone was published in 1979. The copy I read is a hardcover Book Club Edition.