Shakespeare References in The Silk Vendetta

Victoria Holt’s novel The Silk Vendetta contains several Shakespeare references. Half of them are to Romeo And Juliet. The first of those comes in a conversation after the death of a minor character. The main character says that the Italians “are a fiery people” and “always having feuds.” Cassie replies, “Romeo and Juliet and all that” (p. 124). The next is to one of Juliet’s most famous lines. Holt writes: “‘What’s in a name?’ I had asked. ‘A tremendous amount,’ she had retorted” (p. 183). Juliet’s line is “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other word would smell as sweet.” The final of the Romeo And Juliet references again is in relation to feuds. Holt writes, “Oh really, Father, these family feuds went out with Romeo and Juliet” (p. 279).

Two of the remaining three references in this book are to Hamlet. The first is to that famous speech from Polonius. Holt writes: “What does your Shakespeare say: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be….’ But I was thinking of a loan” (p. 217). The second is to Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy. Holt writes, “I have no desire to slip off this mortal coil just yet” (p. 327). Hamlet says: “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come/When we have shuffled off this mortal coil/Must give us pause.” The other reference is to Julius Caesar. When Lenore feels that everyone is siding against her, Holt writes, “I thought: You, too, Cassie” (p. 221). That of course is a nod to Julius Caesar’s “Et tu, Brute?”

The Silk Vendetta was published in 1987. The First Ballantine Books Edition was published in January of 1989.