Shakespeare personalized existing plots in writing his plays and added to them a keen insight into the human experience that gave them universal meaning. frustrated love, ambition, greed, jealousy, fear: if he wants to write a story about a pivotal situation, there is a shakespeare play that fits his needs. So it’s no wonder he’s inspired so many writers, from Herman Melville to Angela Carter.
he dealt with archetypes before anyone knew such things existed, and his ability to take an emotion or a situation and push it to the limit helped create a cadre of works that have been endlessly performed and copied. Aside from the examples below, Romeo and Juliet inspired Noughts & Malorie Blackman; crosses, there are references to hamlet in lunar park by bret easton ellis and the tempest was the cue for the magus by john fowles.
You are reading: Books inspired by shakespeare
but macbeth is my favorite, a preference I apparently share with jo nesbo, who recently announced that his new noir crime novel would be based on the scottish play. her sinister magic is also the inspiration behind my dark historical novel aemilia.
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In Jacobean times, the occult was accepted as part of everyday life, and witchcraft was feared and sought after as a useful resource. I tried to channel some of this and recreate the psychology of a fearful and superstitious age.
1. herman melville’s moby dick (macbeth/king lear)
melville’s great american novel is inspired by both biblical and shakespearean myths. Captain Ahab is “a great, wicked, god-like man…above the common” whose quest for the great white whale is a fable about obsession and overreach. Just as Macbeth and Lear subvert the natural order of things, Ahab stands against nature in her determination to slay his prey, and his arrogant pursuit is doomed from the start.
2. josephine tey’s daughter of time (richard iii)
richard iii gets a cute makeover in josephine tey’s 1951 whodunit, which reads like a cross between hatchback and time crew. Detective Alan Grant, confined to bed after an accident, becomes interested in the maligned king after studying his portrait. Although Richard III was clearly a real person, the false image we have of him was originally created by Shakespeare, Tey argues. He created a pantomime villain and child killer to curry favor with Ella Tudor’s patron, Elizabeth I.
3. brave new world by aldous huxley (the tempest)
huxley makes numerous references to shakespeare’s work in this dystopian novel, and the title is taken from the tempest: “oh, a brave new world, / that has people like that!” like caliban, john “the savage” is an outcast, scorned for the way he looks, and huxley is exploring ideas about the power of art and the nature of humanity as shakespeare does in the haunting and possibly final work of him.
4. w somerset maugham cakes and beer (twelfth night)
I discovered Maugham when I was about 14 years old. It was old-fashioned then and now it’s completely off the radar. but this is a fascinating novel about literary snobbery. Rosie Driffield’s portrayal of “loose woman” is sexist in modern terms, but her unapologetic hedonism is inspired by Sir Toby’s burp on Twelfth Night: “Do you think because you’re virtuous, there won’t be any more cakes or beer?”
5. the talented mr ripley by patricia highsmith (macbeth)
Like Macbeth, Ripley wants what someone else has. And just as Macbeth murders Duncan, Ripley liquidates Golden Boy Dickie Greenleaf, seeking to take her place. Later, the body count rises as Ripley tries to secure her position. This isn’t a direct retelling, but the parallels are clear: Macbeth is accused of donning “borrowed robes,” and Ripley literally steals Dickie’s clothes and identity. For me, the main difference between the Scottish king and the young American is that Ripley is a true psychopath: he feels no remorse.
6. the black prince of iris murdoch (hamlet)
this is a brilliant portrayal of obsessive love, though its plot is a typically convoluted murdoquian creation that draws inspiration from freud and plato, as well as hamlet. It tells the story of a twisted friendship between two writers, and features some cheeky cross-dressing sex scenes in which Julian (a young woman) disguises himself as a shady Dane. murdoch is stronger on the unpredictability of love and the black comedy that can result.
7. the dogs of war by frederick forsyth (julius caesar)
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Shakespeare’s exploration of violence and betrayal has inspired numerous contemporary writers. Forsyth references Julius Caesar in the title of his novel about mercenaries fighting in a fictional African republic: “He yells ‘havoc!’ and let the dogs of war escape.” the themes also mirror those of this brutal work: the story shows that these ruthless men operate according to their own code, consistent but ruthless, and difficult for outsiders to understand.
8. wise children by angela carter (taming the shrew et al)
twins, doubles, and paradoxes abound in carter’s final novel, as they do in shakespeare. The story of the twins Dora and Nora Chance explores ideas about parenthood and incest, and the novel is written in five chapters like the five acts of a Shakespeare play. One of the themes is “high art” versus “low art,” and Carter jokingly refers to Shakespeare through Kiss Me Kate, a populist adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew. I loved the boldness and enthusiasm of this novel, and the way it challenges and celebrates shakespeare’s legacy.
9. love in idleness by amanda craig (a midsummer night’s dream)
This is a modern reworking of A Midsummer Night’s Dream set in contemporary Tuscany, gently ridiculing the chatty classes. the familiar tropes of Shakespearean comedy are all there: confusion, angst, and final resolution. Like Murdoch, Craig has some fun with the names (my particular favorites are Theo Noble and Ellen and Ivo Sponge), as well as exposing some of the weaknesses and inconsistencies in our approach to love and marriage.
10. thousand acres of jane smiley (king lear)
Smiley retells the story of King Lear in present-day Iowa in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The novel takes place on a thousand-acre farm owned by a father and his three daughters, and is told from the point of view of the eldest, Ginny. Instead of dismissing the two eldest daughters as evil and greedy, as Shakespeare does, in Ella Smiley’s novel she explores the family secrets that underpin the drama and shows the meaning of the land itself.
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