“Shakespeare believed that they all should be hanged…” — How great art serves murders: The series of novels by Alan Bradley in the view of William Shakespeare’s works

Abstract

The series of crime novels by the Canadian writer Alan Bradley can be perceived as a series about England and Englishness. William Shakespeare and his works constitute an extremely significant part among the cultural markers of Englishness. Thus, it is not surprising that in the world of literature there is a great number of references to the texts of the great playwright; and these references serve various functions and appear on different textual levels. The aim of this article is a thorough and multifaceted presentation of these references, as well as a demonstration of the literary character of the series about Flavia de Luce in the light of these references.