Ignorantly Drowning in Shakespeare

Shakespeare has imposed an outstanding influence throughout time.

As I was reading for my Film and Literature class I discovered an allusion to an all too familiar play--Hamlet. In the beginning of A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens says,

"There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly

understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am

going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet's Father

died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable

in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts,

than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning

out after dark in a breezy spot--say Saint Paul's Churchyard for

instance--literally to astonish his son's weak mind."

I also recently discovered another allusion to Hamlet in a well-known work by T.S. Elliot "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

"No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;

At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--

Almost, at times, the Fool" (line 111-119).

Shakespeare has truly saturated our culture and I find it very interesting to discover these allusions to Shakespeare in common literature as I learn and consume more Shakespeare and popular/academic literature.

Have you discovered a cool Shakespeare allusion?