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| Shakespeare, William |
Anybody with a master's degree in Literature would be expected to know something about Shakespeare and Bellairs flaunts his knowledge by peppering his stories with various references to many famous plays. In fact, Shakespeare’s name appears in thirteen of Bellairs and Strickland’s books.
As You Like It
A clue to the whereabouts of the missing Professor Childermass is simply "a great reckoning in a little room" [The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, 101]. Father Higgins explains that in Shakespeare's time the word 'reckoning' "meant a bill, like a restaurant bill, and the whole quote refers to a murder case...," specifically, the murder of playwright Christopher Marlowe. He was stabbed to death in the back room of a tavern, which Higgins believes connects the phrase to the strange dollhouse scene in the Childermass clock.
"A great reckoning in a little room." - Act III, Scene III
Hamlet
Voltimand Faldstool holds the consecutive Communions record at the Saint Ogmus parish [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 22-3].
Voltimand is an ambassador to the King of Norway from the King of Denmark.
When the grimoire of Warren Windrow disintegrates at the touch of the True Cross, Father Higgins crosses himself and says, "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" [The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, 123].
"Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" - Act I, Scene IV
King Richard III
When Prospero and Roger Bacon use Prospero's green glass paperweight to call forth Melichus, the room they are in grew darker and candles burned blue [The Face in the Frost, 152].
Chad Glomus tells Johnny and Fergie "if an evil presence is near, candle flames turn blue. That's what Shakespeare says, and it happens to be the truth" [The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, 72].
"The lights burn blue. it is now dead midnight." - Act V, Scene III
Macbeth
A ring of stones near Carmarthenshire, Wales were called the Weird Sisters and used to magically control the weather [The Dark Secret of Weatherend, 79-80].
"The weird sisters, hand in hand" - Act I, Scene III
The underground time traveling trolley car features the phrase "All Our Yesterdays" on its side [The Trolley to Yesterday, 19].
"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools." - Act V, Scene V
Professor Childermass recites a line from Shakespeare to give him courage: “Before my body I throw my warlike shield” [The Curse of the Blue Figurine, 162].
"Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, and damned be he that first cries hold, enough." - Act V, Scene VIII
Twelfth Night
Stranded on Cemetery Island in the rain, Johnny remembers the song Professor Childermass used to sing when it was raining [The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, 144].
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day. - Act V, Scene I
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
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| William Shakespeare |
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