When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound (1.2.12, 3.8.46)
- La Fontaine's Fables (1.2.21)
- Heinrich Heine, "They Gave Me Counsel and Words to the Wise" (1.2.22)
- Homer, The Odyssey (1.3.28-51, 5.4.6)
- Genesis 21:20 (1.3.95)
- Beauty and the Beast (1.4.14)
- Hera (1.4.37)
- Song of Solomon 8:14 (1.4.51)
- Genesis (2.3.40)
- 2 Samuel 13:3715:12 (2.4.29)
- Victor Hugo, The Legend of the Centuries, Poem IX (2.5.24)
- The Book of Esther (3.3.3)
- Charles Baudelaire, "The Beautiful Ship" Les Fleurs du mal (3.3.4)
- Alexandre Dumas, The Lady of the Camellias ("La Dame aux Camelias") (3.5.15-18, 3.6.15)
- Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts (3.5.15)
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It (3.6.3)
- Abbé Prévost. Manon Lescaut (3.6.15)
- Alexandre Dumas, the D'Artagnan Romances (3.7.5)
- Lord Byron, The Vision of Judgment, lines 279-80 (3.7.24)
- Anatole France, Vie fleur (3.7.33)
- Beethoven, Piano Concerto in G-Major (3.8.4-5)
- Hansel and Gretel (3.8.27)
- Proverbs 22:13 (3.8.31)
- Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, "Das ding an sich" ("The Thing-in-itself") (3.8.53, 5.4.6)
- Virgil, Aeneid (4.1.20)
- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (4.1.39-50)
- Genesis 32:22-31 (4.1.101-07)
- John 3:31 (4.1.189)
- Sappho, Poem 48 (4.1.266)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Invocation", Lines 19-22 (5.3.5)
- The Thousand and One Nights (5.3.13)
- Iris Tree, The Traveller (5.3.21)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (5.3.64)
- Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow (5.4.6)
- Jean Racine (5.4.6)
- Adelbert von Chamisso, Peter Schlemihl (5.4.6)
- Poetic Edda, "Lokasenna" Ragnarok (5.4.19)
- William Shakespeare, King Lear (5.4.50, 5.5.14)
Historical References
- Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) (1.2.46)
- La Belle Otero (3.6.15-21)]
- King Charles II of England (3.7.4)
- The House of Stuart (3.7.6)
- Queen Elizabeth (3.7.6)
- Sir Philip Sidney (3.7.6)
- Francis Drake (3.7.6)
- King's African Rifles (K.A.R.) (3.7.21)
- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (4.1.29)
- Jesus Christ (4.1.109-11)
- Saint Peter (4.1.110-11)
- Admiral (Lord) Horatio Nelson (5.3.68)
- Sir William Northrub McMillan (5.4.4)f
- Sir Hercules Robinson (5.4.6)
- Walter Scott (5.4.6)