Two things shape my novel (and the series): the American Revolution and Shakespeare. If you’ve read my previous two blogs, you know my reasons for choosing to use the American Revolution as the setting, but why incorporate Shakespeare into my novel?
Why not?
I supposed I need more than that.
I have a nearly life-long history with Shakespeare. My father was a high school English teacher, and I know I attended at least one play with one of his classes during elementary (couldn’t tell you which or why). In middle and high school, my friend Kellie and I looked forward to our Shakespeare units, and I remember reading most, if not all, of A Midsummer Night’s Dream during one overly long track meet. In college, I took a Shakespeare class, and while studying abroad in England, I had the opportunity to visit Stratford-upon-Avon (twice), to see three shows as a Groundling at the Globe, and was lucky enough to be in England when the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was performing the entirety of the eight plays of the Henriad (start with Richard II and go chronologically to Richard III), or as they billed it, The History Cycle, using the same cast for all eight plays (of which my friend Siri and I were able to see five). The BBC made a film version titled The Hollow Crown, which you should definitely watch. Last spring, I dragged my parents and brother Tyler with me to the Guthrie for a day of Shakespeare, where we saw Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V back-to-back-to-back. Best day.
If you have only ever read—or been forced to read—Shakespeare, I highly recommend you see a good live production somewhere or watch one of the countless film versions of his plays that are out there. My top recommendation is The Hollow Crown (if you just pick one, don’t pick Henry IV, Part II), but I am weirdly obsessed with the Histories, so.
All that and I still haven’t answered the question: why use Shakespeare in my novel? Since “why not” is not a good enough answer, I’ll divide my answer into three parts: Shakespeare’s characters, universality, and Shakespeare and the Revolution.
Shakespeare’s Characters
I had the profound pleasure of attending Patrick Paige’s one man show All the Devils are Here at the Guthrie this past November—if you have the chance to see it somewhere, go! In it, Paige breaks down Shakespeare’s development of the villain over the course of his career and credits Shakespeare with creating the modern villain. Shakespeare’s villains—especially his later ones—are complex, human, and timeless. I would argue that same could be said for many of his other characters. We see echoes of ourselves in them and vise versa. Whether or not we want to, we relate to those characters.
Who among us doesn’t know someone who talks a big game but is a coward once everyone’s backs are turned (Falstaff)? Or someone who is kind to friends and those like them but cruel to those perceived as different (Antonio)? Or who hasn’t been true to their beliefs and morals and been misunderstood by others and punished for them (Cordelia)?
When looking at the main players, if you will, of the American Revolution, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between Shakespearean characters and those historical figures. What better villain of the Revolution is there than Benedict Arnold (and a complicated one at that), who starts out a hero—like Henry V, Julius Caesar, Macbeth—and then turns (spoiler alert?) villainous—like Macbeth, Iago (Othello), Edmund (King Lear), and Richard III? If I were exploring the southern theater of the war, Colonel Banastre Tarelton (British) would make an excellent Shakespearean villain as well. And then when you add ghosts! Not to mention squabbling politicians, women in disguise, heroes, and martyrs. Am I describing a cast of Shakespearean characters or those of the American Revolution?
Universality
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: there’s a universality to Shakespeare. Not just in the characters, but in the themes and in the language itself.
Themes first. Any major literary theme you can think of—love, jealousy, loyalty, ambition—you can find it in Shakespeare’s plays. Each title you hear probably evokes one or more themes for you: Romeo and Juliet. Macbeth. Hamlet. And you can certainly connect those themes to real life or other works of fiction you have seen/read.
To my mind, the themes that best fit both Shakespeare and the Revolution are the four I use to start my summary for Worthy of Trust: Trust, Honor, Ambition, Betrayal. These four are found in many of Shakespeare’s plays but perhaps are most concentrated in the Henriad, which makes sense since they are based in history, and which is why you will find them referenced often in my novel (also because of the aforementioned obsession).
The language. Perhaps one reason that I almost immediately connected Shakespeare and the Revolution is because the language is not that different. You only have to look at some of the letters and speeches of Dr. Joseph Warren to see that. In fact, the British hip-hop artist Akala would argue that Shakespeare isn’t that different from modern rap and hip-hop, and if you’ve never seen or played his Shakespeare or hip-hop game, you should check it out (https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/akala-hip-hop-shakespeare/).
There is a Shakespeare quotation for any occasion, and as the #ShakespeareSunday tag, run by the group Hollow Crown Fans, has demonstrated for years on the app-formerly-known-as-Twitter and now on Bluesky, there are Shakespeare quotes for every meme, gif, political event, and theme imaginable. (You really should join us for a Shakespeare Sunday on Bluesky. It’s great fun to see the creativity and different takes on the same theme.)
My series title is actually Shakespearean in origin. While the title of each individual novel comes from a quotation about Benedict Arnold, the series title—That Word Honor—comes from Fallstaff’s “catechism” in Henry IV, Part I.
Shakespeare and the American Revolution
I knew my main character, Whitley, liked Shakespeare before I knew for sure Shakespeare would have been widely read at the time. I wanted to be accurate, so I was glad to find after doing a little research that his works were quite well known, quoted, and performed by both the Americans and the British.
Nathaniel Philbrick recounts in his book Bunker Hill that after the Battle of Bunker Hill, Margaret Kemble Gage, General Gage’s American born wife, quoted from King John to a friend: “I am with both: each army hath a hand, and in their rage—I having hold of both—they whirl asunder, and dismember me.” After the same battle, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John, quoting from Coriolanus: “Extremity is the trier of spirits common chance common men will bear; and when the Sea is calm all boats alike show mastership in floating, but fortunes blows when most struck home, being bravely warded, crave a noble cunning.” In his farewell address to the Continental Army, Washington quoted Shakespeare’s Henry V:
Washington: “Who that was not a witness could imagine, that the most violent local prejudices would cease so soon, and that Men who came from the different parts of the Continent, strongly disposed by the habits of education, to despise and quarrel with each other, would instantly become but one patriotic band of Brothers” (https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw2.025/?sp=28&st=text)?
Henry V: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition; and gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams also quoted and admired Shakespeare. While the British occupied New York City, they staged performances of Richard III and Macbeth.
I’m certain there are more ties between the two, and I think it’s fascinating that opposing sides turned to the same playwright for inspiration and to help express what they were feeling.
So why not Shakespeare? I really do hope you are able to see a show—live is always best—or watch a movie version if you haven’t before or haven’t in a while. If nothing else, I hope you enjoy the Shakespeare incorporated into my book!