Shakespeare References in The Western Heritage Volume B: 1300-1815

I'm going through all my books, reading them again, and finding Shakespeare references in most of them, including this history book by Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment and Frank M. Turner. The first reference is to Richard The Third: "During the reign of the Tudors a tradition arose that painted Richard III as an unprincipled villain who murdered Edward's sons in the Tower of London to secure the throne. The best-known version of this characterization - unjust according to some - is found in Shakespeare's Richard III" (p. 347). Next there is a reference to Shakespeare: "More's Utopia (1516), a criticism of contemporary society, still rivals the plays of Shakespeare as the most-read sixteenth-century English work" (p. 371). At the beginning of the fourteenth chapter is a list of topics, and Shakespeare is mentioned in this list: "William Shakespeare: Dramatist of the Age" (p. 495). Of course, Shakespeare is mentioned in the chapter. The authors write, "Shakespeare's dramas provide an insight into virtually the entire range of late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English world views" (p. 504). And there is a short section of the chapter on Shakespeare, which begins: "Shakespeare (1564-1616), the greatest playwright in the English language, was born in Stratford-on-Avon. He liverd there almost all of his life except for the years when he wrote in London. There is much less factual knowledge about him than one would expect of such an important figure" (p. 505). And then: "The tragedies are considered his unique achievement. Four of these were written withint a three-year period: Hamlet (1603), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606). The most original of the tragedies, Romeo and Juliet (1597), transformed an old popular story into a moving drama of 'star-cross'd lovers'" (p. 506). This chapter also contains a list of "Major Works Of Seventeenth-Century Literature And Philosophy," which includes "1605 King Lear (Shakespeare)" (p. 509). At the end of that chapter is a list of suggested books, including "HARDIN CRAIG, Shakespeare: A Historical and Critical Study with Annotated Texts of Twenty-one Plays (1958)" (p. 521). Shakespeare is mentioned again later in the book: "As an alternative to such dependence on the classical forms, August Wilhelm von Schlegel praised the 'romantic' literature of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Shakespeare, the Arthurian legends, Cervantes, and Calderon" (p. 716). And then: "He praised Shakespeare and Lord Byron and criticized his own countryman, the seventeenth-century classical dramatist Racine" (p. 716). And finally: "Coleridge also made major contributions to Romantic literary criticism in his lectures on Shakespeare and in Biographia Literaria (1817), which presents his theories of poetry" (p. 716). The copy I read was from the fourth edition, published in 1991.

Shakespeare References in Travels With My Aunt

Graham Greene's Travels With My Aunt contains several Shakespeare references. Actually, before the novel even begins, there is a Shakespeare reference on the first page, the page with quoted passages from reviews: "It is as if Shakespeare, after the tragedies, had chosen to write not 'The Tempest' but 'Charley's Aunt.'" That is from Time. Then, in the novel itself, the first reference is to Hamlet. Greene writes: "I remember once when I was in Tunis a travelling company was there who were playing Hamlet in Arabic. Someone saw to it that in the Interlude the Player King was really killed - or rather not quite killed but severely damaged in the right ear - by molten lead. And who do you suppose the police at once suspected? Not the man who poured the lead in, although he must have been aware that the ladle wasn't empty and was hot to the touch. Oh no, they knew Shakespeare's play too well for that, and so they arrested Hamlet's uncle" (p. 58). The next reference is also to Hamlet. Greene writes: "What did the truth matter? All characters once dead, if they continue to exist in memory at all, tend to become fictions. Hamlet is no less real now than Winston Churchill, and Jo Pulling no less historical than Don Quixote" (p. 67). After that, there is a reference to The Merchant Of Venice: "You were condemned if you chose the wrong one, like those poor men in The Merchant of Venice" (p. 99). The novel also contains a reference to Macbeth: "I nearly became a Roman Catholic once. Because of the Kennedys. But then when two of them got shot - I mean I'm superstitious. Was Macbeth a Catholic?" (p. 112). And then there is a reference to As You Like It, and to Shakespeare himself: "I can't think why you persist in calling it a theatre. 'All the world's a stage,' of course, but a metaphor as general as that loses all its meaning. Only a second-rate actor could have written such a line out of pride in his second-rate calling. There were occasions when Shakespeare was a very bad writer indeed. You can see how often in books of quotations" (p. 121). An insane thing for someone to think, of course, but those are the thoughts of one character. And Greene goes on to write: "I was a little shocked by her unexpected attack on Shakespeare. Perhaps it was because he wrote verse dramas like Mario" (p. 121). This book was published in 1969. The Bantam edition was published in 1971.

Shakespeare Reference in The Bridge Across Forever

Richard Bach's The Bridge Across Forever contains a reference to Romeo And Juliet. Leslie is playing music that Richard is not familiar with. She tells him it's Prokofiev. He asks the name of the music. "'Oh, Richard,' she gasped, wiping tears. 'It's Romeo and Juliet...'" (p. 170). This book was published in 1984. My copy was from the February 1986 reprinting.