William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a noteworthy English poet and playwright (1564 - 1616). Shakespeare is famous for the many great plays that he has written, including Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and more.

History

In Shakespeare's day, he was good friends with Macbeth, although he did not know Macbeth's true identity. [1] Shakespeare and Macbeth probably had tea together at Into the Mystic in London or were drinking buddies. [2][3] Macbeth was amused by his friend's take on his life story, rather than offended. [4]

The Manhattan Clan discovered his works not long after their awakening in modern day New York – and have also encountered a number of his characters, such as Macbeth, the Weird Sisters, Oberon, Titania, and Puck. ("Enter Macbeth", "The Mirror", "City of Stone" Part One, "Ill Met By Moonlight")

Other characters from Shakespeare's plays known to exist are Queen Mab, Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban. [5][6]

Appearances

Real World Background

Shakespearean references in the Gargoyles Universe are common, thanks to Greg Weisman's fondness for the Bard. Not only have Macbeth, the Weird Sisters, Oberon, Titania, and Puck appeared directly in the series, but a few other characters are parallels to Shakespearean figures, such as the Coldtrio to Othello, Desdemona, and Iago or Dingo in Gargoyles: Bad Guys to Prince Hal. "Strangled" and "Losers" introduced modern-day namesake counterparts to Falstaff and his circle into the Gargoyles Universe. One of the female gargoyles on Avalon bears the name Ophelia, and a number of Shakespearean lines have been quoted or adapted in the course of the series.

Greg also planned to reflect Shakespeare in future episodes, not only through the introduction of Queen Mab and Prospero, but also by making Terry and Sphinx a parallel to Romeo and Juliet in the The New Olympians spin-off. Tamora has also been called a "Gargoyles character in the making". [7] He even once suggested a two-parter where the characters were trapped in a live performance of Macbeth, with Macbeth playing his namesake, Demona as Lady Macbeth, Goliath as Macduff, Elisa as Lady Macduff, and Hudson as Duncan (the higher-ups at Disney rejected it as a two-parter, and Greg felt the story would never fit into a single episode).

Shakespearean allusions in Gargoyles

  • "The Mirror" - Puck is introduced, Oberon and Titania are first mentioned, and Brooklyn and Elisa both mention A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  • "City of Stone" - The Weird Sisters are introduced in "City of Stone" Part One. In their encounter with Macbeth and Duncan in "City of Stone" Part Three, they say "Double, double, toil and trouble/ Fire burn and cauldron bubble", and greet Macbeth and Duncan with the words "All hail [Duncan/Macbeth], King of Scotland, and father of the king hereafter!" At Macbeth and Gruoch's wedding, Bodhe introduces them as "Lord and Lady Macbeth". One of Duncan's henchmen is named "Macduff" in the voice credits.
  • "High Noon" - Lexington uses the names "Othello", "Desdemona", and "Iago" as password attempts when trying to re-activate Coldstone.
  • "Heritage" - Elisa adapts the line "There are more things in heaven and earth..." from Hamlet, when speaking to Natsilane.
  • "Ill Met By Moonlight" - Oberon and Titania (as Titania) first appear. Ophelia is first named. Oberon's line "The game is afoot" comes from the "Once more unto the breach" speech from Henry V (via Sherlock Holmes). At the end of the episode, Goliath says "All's well that ends well, then." The episode title is a quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
  • "The Journey" - Broadway and Brooklyn both quote from Romeo and Juliet ("But soft, what light..." and "Parting is such sweet sorrow") in the library scene.
  • "The Gate" - Kenneth III/the Grim says "Welcome every man according to his station, and who shall 'scape whipping?", based on a line from Hamlet.
  • "Strangers" - Dingo's real name is revealed to be "Harry Monmouth", a nickname of Prince Hal/Henry V.
  • "Everywhere" - Demona mutters to herself "Heavy is the head" when observing Brooklyn with the Tracking Spell, slightly misquoting Henry IV, Part 2 ("Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"). Later on, while using the same spell to look back in time in her search for the Three Keys to Power, she again mutters to herself "what is done is done", slightly misquoting Lady Macbeth.
  • "The Reach" - The battle-cry "For Kenneth, Saint Andrew and Scotland!" is modelled on "God for Harry, England, and Saint George!" from Henry V.
  • "The Draw" - Three of Culen's thanes, Cawdor, Angus, and Menteth, are named after thanes in Macbeth. The second part of Shari's narration of "The Tale of the Three Brothers" includes the line "aye, there was the rub", echoing a line from Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.
  • "The Promise" - The troupe of players includes twins named Benvolio and Malvolio (references to Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, respectively). Shari is at one point called the "Dark Lady", a reference to several of Shakespeare's sonnets written to a woman described as having dark physical features.
  • "Young At Heart" - On his deathbed, Halcyon Renard quotes the opening line in the prologue to Romeo and Juliet when pointing out the similarities between his aide-de-camp, Preston Vogel, and his former employee, Owen Burnett. Vogel still doesn't see it, much to Owen's amusement.
  • "The Dream" - The "Italian tragedy" first performed in "The Draw" is performed once more for the 10th Century locals of Wyvern Hill, and now described to feature characters such as "Iagolino", "the Moor", and "Desdemona".

See Also

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