The Sleeping Dragon
This book has only one Shakespeare reference. Each chapter begins with a quoted passage, and the sixth chapter begins with some of Jaques’ famous speech from As You Like It: “…a soldier,/Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,/Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,/Seeking the bubble reputation,/Even in the cannon’s mouth” (p. 71). The play is not identified, but the author is. After the passage, it says “William Shakespeare.”
The Sword And The Chain
This novel contains a few Shakespeare references. The first is to Macbeth. Andrea is pregnant, and Karl says he will be gone for a while. Andrea asks him when he’ll be leaving, and Joel Rosenberg writes, “T’were best done quickly” (p. 316). And yes, the apostrophe is in the wrong place. What Macbeth says is: “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well/It were done quickly.” The next reference is to Henry The Fifth, and it comes at the beginning of a chapter: “Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!/In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man/As modest stillness and humility;/But when the blast of war blows in our ears,/Then imitate the action of the tiger;/Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,/Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage;/Then lend the eye a terrible aspect” (p. 399). Again, the play is not identified, but the author is. This novel’s final reference comes at the beginning of its final chapter, the quoted passage being from Act III Scene iv of Macbeth: “I am in blood,/Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (p. 440). And, as with the other quoted speeches, the play is not identified, but the author is.
The Silver Crown
This novel has more references than the other two. The first is to Hamlet. Andrea says, “I see a method in your madness, but there’s still too much madness in your method.” That is a reference to Polonius’ line, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t.” The next reference is to The First Part Of King Henry The Fourth. Joel Rosenberg writes, “Apparently their commander had decided that discretion was the better part of valor” (p. 641). That refers to Falstaff’s famous speech in which he says, “The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.” Then we get a reference to The Merchant Of Venice. Deighton tells Karl, “And yes, if you prick yourself, you will bleed” (p. 707). That, of course, is a reference to Shylock’s famous speech from the first scene of Act III, in which he says: “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” Then at the beginning of the twenty-sixth chapter, there is a line from The Second Part Of King Henry The Fourth: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” (p. 711). The final reference is to Macbeth, a line referred to in The Sword And The Chain. Here Joel Rosenberg writes, “‘Tis best done quickly, eh?” The line is spoken by Ahira, and, as in the previous novel, it has to do with leaving.
Guardians Of The Flame: The Warriors was published in 1985. My copy is a hardcover book club edition.
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