William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare won renown as the greatest poet and playwright in the history of England and one of the greatest in Human history. He also had numerous encounters with the Doctor and was also attracted to Martha Jones (DW: The Shakespeare Code). One of his plays, Hamlet, was written with help from the Doctor (DW: City of Death), and another of his plays, Troilus and Cressida would, unknown to Shakespeare, be actually based upon the later life of the First Doctor's companion, Vicki, who adopted the identity of Cressida. (DW: The Myth Makers)
Appearances
Via the Time-Space Visualiser, the Doctor and his companions watched William Shakespeare in conversation with Queen Elizabeth I. (DW: The Chase)
The Doctor and Charley Pollard met a young Will Shakespeare who had been taken out of time by Viola Learman and brought to New Britain in the early 21st century, Will Shakespeare may have learnt about his own plays from Mariah Learman's library. (BFA: The Time of the Daleks)
The Doctor also shared a drink with an older Shakespeare, he later stowed away in the Doctor's TARDIS and began to attempt to influence events under the alias of Mr Seyton. (BFA: The Kingmaker)
The Doctor encountered Shakespeare in 1599 when the witch-like Carrionites wanted the wordsmith to complete the play Love's Labour's Won to free the rest of their kind. With the help of the Doctor and Martha Jones, the three Carrionites and their sisters were banished back into the Deep Darkness. During this encounter, Shakespeare developed an attraction to the Doctor and particularly Martha, whom he addressed as his "Dark Lady" (DW: The Shakespeare Code).
Notable Characteristics
Shakespeare is notable for being one of the few humans who, without receiving any known sort of psychic training, is not fooled by the Doctor's psychic paper. The Doctor is very impressed by this fact and applauds him, stating it is proof that he is a genius. (DW: The Shakespeare Code)
References and mentions
The Doctor claimed to have known the young Shakespeare, calling him a little boy who never said a word when he didn't need to. The Doctor also recognizes the handwriting in an original draft of Shakespeare's Hamlet as being his own, Shakespeare having sprained his wrist writing sonnets. The Doctor also said that he had warned Shakespeare that Hamlet's line "to take up arms against a sea of troubles" was a mixed metaphor, but that Shakespeare would not listen. (DW: City of Death)
Quotations and minor references
- Planet of Evil (anecdote by the Doctor)
- The Mark of the Rani (quoted)
- The Two Doctors (Hamlet quoted)
- The Ultimate Foe (Hamlet quoted)
- The Empire of Glass (perhaps?)
- Charles Dickens used the exclamation, "What the Shakespeare?!" to express alarm. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
- An obvious play on the expression, "What the dickens?"
Behind the scenes
In The Shakespeare Code, the Tenth Doctor acts as though he's never met Shakespeare before, despite the Fourth Doctor indicating in City of Death that he knew Shakespeare well enough to help him write Hamlet. Reportedly a line of dialogue was written for the later episode to explain this, but the line was cut. Without this line, it can be surmised that, for reasons unknown, the Doctor no longer remembers meeting Shakespeare.
During The Shakespeare Code there is a moment when the Doctor spies Shakespeare flirting with a man, to which he says, "Fifty-seven academics just punched the air." This is a reference to the fact that most of Shakespeare's sonnets, including Sonnet 18, are believed by Shakespearean academics to be addressed to a man, and there is a sizable body of scholarship on Shakespeare's sexuality.
