William Shakespeare: Difference between revisions

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{{you may|William Shakespeare (writer)|n1=the real Shakespeare}}

{{William Shakespeare}}

Many sources depicted Shakespeare as a real individual who shared interactions with [[the Doctor]] on multiple occasions, ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Time of the Daleks (audio story)|The Time of the Daleks]]'', [[COMIC]]: ''[[A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)|A Groatsworth of Wit]]'') as [[history]] recorded, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Whoniverse (novel)|The Whoniverse]]'') but others claimed that Shakespeare was "no more than a [[rumour]]" and that "no real empirical evidence of anyone of that name in courtly circles" existed, with one stating it was an [[alias]] of [[Christopher Marlowe]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[All Done with Mirrors (short story)|All Done with Mirrors]]'') Additionally, sources that agreed on Shakespeare's existence conflicted over the circumstances of his demise. One claimed that he died in [[April]] [[1616]] after being [[poison]]ed on the orders of [[Walter Raleigh]] ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'') but another depicted him as taking the place of the doomed [[King]] [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] at the [[Battle of Bosworth]], with the real Richard taking Shakespeare's place in history in [[1597]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Kingmaker (audio story)|The Kingmaker]]'')  

=== Later life ===

[[File:Shakespeare main.jpg|thumb|Shakespeare in [[1599]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')]]

In [[1599]], the [[Tenth Doctor]] encountered Shakespeare when the [[witch]]-like [[Carrionite]]s wanted the wordsmith to complete the lost 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]]. However, the play was banished along with the Carrionites. During this encounter, Shakespeare developed an attraction to the Doctor and Martha, whom he addressed as his "Dark Lady". ([[TV]]: ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'')

[[File:ShakespeareWilliam-Chase.jpg|thumb|left|Shakespeare is inspired. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Chase (TV story)|The Chase]]'')]]

Via the [[Time-Space Visualiser]], the [[First Doctor]] and his companions watched William Shakespeare in conversation with Queen [[Elizabeth I]] about ''[[Hamlet]]''. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Chase (TV story)|The Chase]]'') The First Doctor collaborated with Shakespeare between drafts one and two of ''Hamlet''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Byzantium! (novel)|Byzantium!]]'') The Fourth Doctor claimed that he helped Shakespeare transcribe ''[[Hamlet]]'' as Shakespeare had sprained his wrist writing sonnets. The Doctor claimed that he had warned Shakespeare that Hamlet's line "to take arms against a sea of troubles" was a mixed metaphor, but Shakespeare would not listen. ([[TV]]: ''[[City of Death (TV story)|City of Death]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor (short story)|The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor]]'')

In [[1609]], according to one account, Shakespeare, acting as an agent of the Crown, encountered the First Doctor, [[Irving Braxiatel]], and [[Galileo Galilei]] in [[Venice]], and was reunited with [[Christopher Marlowe]], whom he thought was dead. The Doctor forcibly made Shakespeare take a [[retcon]]-like drug to erase his memory of the events that he had witnessed. Shakespeare died in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in [[April]] [[1616]], having been poisoned on the orders of Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] who had been released from the [[Tower of London]] only five weeks earlier. Braxiatel visited the playwright on his deathbed and restored the [[English]]man's memories of his time in Venice. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Empire of Glass (novel)|The Empire of Glass]]'')

== Alternate timelines ==

In [[Roma I]] the author of ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' and ''[[Anthony and Cleopatra]]'' was known as Concuthasta; he had a counterpart in the history of every [[Great Birtain|Britannia]] throughout the [[Known Worlds]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Warlords of Utopia (novel)|Warlords of Utopia]]'')

* In ''[[The Shakespeare Code (TV story)|The Shakespeare Code]]'', the Tenth Doctor acts as though he's never met Shakespeare before, despite the [[Fourth Doctor]] indicating in ''[[City of Death (TV story)|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. The [[Ninth Doctor]] also claims in ''[[A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)|A Groatsworth of Wit]]'' that he's known Shakespeare "for ages."

* During ''The Shakespeare Code'' there is a moment when the Doctor notices Shakespeare is flirting with him after just having done so with Martha. The Doctor says, "Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!" [in reference to them needing to stop the Carrionites]. Shakespeare responds, "Is that a promise, Doctor?" The Doctor muses, mostly to himself, "Fifty-seven academics just punched the air." This is a reference to the idea that most of Shakespeare's sonnets, including Sonnet 18, are believed by some Shakespearean academics to be addressed to a man, and there is a sizable body of scholarship on Shakespeare's [[sexuality]].

* William Shakespeare is one of three historical figures who are available as playable characters in the online game ''[[TARDIS Tennis (video game)|TARDIS Tennis]]''.

* In the story of ''[[Legacy (video game)|Doctor Who: Legacy]]'', the [[Seventh Doctor]], stressing the importance of preventing the [[Sontaran]]s' interference in the [[timeline]], cites William Shakespeare as an example of an important person in [[human]] [[history]] whose existence is endangered.