Shakespeare Allusions

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An allusion is a literary device used to directly or indirectly reference something. In the case of Night At The Circus, this novel uses various allusions throughout the novel from Shakespeare references to biblical references where some are easily identifiable to the reader whereas others are only noticeable if the reader is familiar with the particular items of reference or works of literature. In regards to the works of Shakespeare, there were allusions to quite a few of his plays: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest and, As You Like it. To identify some of these allusions the reader will need to be familiarized with the works of Shakespeare, but others, only a vague understanding of what the plays are about. An example of this would be the reference to Romeo and Juliet. The two characters in the novel, Marco and Celia are from opposing worlds and have a ‘forbidden love’. This is exactly how the narrative…show more content…
During the novel, Carter describes Fevvers’ struggle to fly for the first time to Lucifer, “Like Lucifer, I fell. Down, down, down I tumbled being with a bump on the Persian rug below me...,” (Carter 30). Lucifer in the bible refers to the fallen angel also known as the devil. Before the Lucifer became the devil he was an angel at the hands of God but ultimately he fell to the depths of hell and became the devil, which refers to the term fallen angel. Lucifer is a reference to evil in the biblical sense and as mentioned before known as the fallen angel; Fevvers’ could potentially refer to herself also as a fallen angel. There are also references to dark angels and also heaven, “...dark angel of many names. Welcome to me, from your home in the third heaven,” (Carter 75). A dark angel is also known as a fallen angel, who is categorized by an angel that has rebelled against God and has been thrown out of heaven; heaven is an obvious reference to Christian

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