Carl Sagan's novel
Contact contains a few Shakespeare references. Each chapter of the book begins with a quoted passage from a well-known work. The fifth chapter begins with a line from
Romeo And Juliet: "Oh, speak again, bright angel" (p. 73). That's a line that Romeo delivers in the famous "balcony" scene. Chapter 20 has a line from
Hamlet at the beginning: "The devil hath power/To assume a pleasing shape" (p. 343). That comes from Hamlet's "rogue and peasant slave" soliloquy. And Chapter 21 begins with a couple of lines from
King Lear: "As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods -/They kills us for their sport" (p. 373). This is from a speech spoken by Gloucester. The book contains a couple of other Shakespeare references, including another
Hamlet reference. Carl Sagan writes, "In his heart of hearts - or whatever equivalent internal organs he possessed - did he think of her as she thought of... an ant?" (p. 361). The phrase "heart of hearts" was coined by Shakespeare, with Hamlet saying, "Give me that man/That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him/In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,/As I do thee." The final reference is to
The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth. Carl Sagan writes, "And, most important, they themselves were dead as doornails" (p. 397). The phrase "dead as a doornail" was popularized by Shakespeare, though not coined by him. In
The Second Part Of King Henry The Sixth, Jack Cade says, "and if I do not leave you all as dead as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more."
Contact was first published in 1985. The first Pocket Books printing was October 1986. The copy I read has the 1997 cover art.
