What books allude to Shakespeare?

Answer 1

An allusion is a passing reference to a line, character or situation in another literary work. It does not mean that the one work is an adaptation of the other, as West Side Story is of Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare's work is so deeply imbedded in English that he is alluded to constantly. There are hundreds of thousands of movies and television programs which allude to Shakespeare. Here is a very short list of examples:

Willy Wonka (1971) has numerous allusions

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country not only has an allusion in the title but there is a character who quotes incessantly and annoyingly from Shakespeare.

Clueless

LA Story

Withnail and I

The Last Action Hero

Boy Meets World

The Maltese Falcon

Answer 2

After extensive research at google and info websites, hours in the library, and asking a number of friends, I've concluded that there are literally millions of books extant that allude to Shakespeare and it would be an impossible task to find and list them all. What might be more worthwhile is listing those books that make no allusion to him. I'd start the list with all books written before 1564 which would be hard put to have had any knowledge of him and anything written by Louis L'Amour -- but I'd be guessing there and may be wrong. --NEHaynes

Answer 3

Examples too numerous to list here. For a list of titles of books, films, TV shows, songs and record albums taken from Shakespeare, see the attached link.

But that is only titles. Shakespeare's phrases are used constantly either in their original or an adulterated form by English-speakers world-wide, more often than not without even knowing that they are from Shakespeare. Some of these adulterated quotations are "all that glitters is not gold" (Merchant of Venice), "there's method in his madness" (Hamlet), "gilding the lily" (King John), "it's Greek to me" (Julius Caesar), "alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well" (Hamlet), and "discretion is the better part of valour" (Henry IV Part I).

Answer 4

Shakespeare's plays are full of allusions. Shakespeare's schooling was taken up with the study of Latin authors as was everyone else's. As a result, the stories told by those Latin authors were well-known to everyone, and most everyone would catch an allusion like "Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, towards Phoebus' lodging" from Romeo and Juliet, or "when I saw it last, it was besmear'd As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war" from Twelfth Night, or "See what a grace was seated on this brow; Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself; An eye like Mars, to threaten and command; A station like the herald Mercury New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill" from Hamlet.

Answer 5

Brave New World. The title itself is a quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Answer 6

Yes. J.K. Rowling states that the prophecy in the Harry Potter books alludes to the witches' prophecy in MacBeth.