Shakespeare and Dorothy L. Sayers: From Playing with Quotes to the Reconstruction of ‘Untold Stories’

Abstract

This paper outlines the evolution in Sayers’ use of Shakespeare — from merely playing with quotes to deeper and more sophisticated relations. Sayers frequently uses quotations as mottos or titles, she also intertwines them to her heroes’ utterances, mainly to achieve comical effect. Tossing quotes around in this manner may seem rather shallow when compared to other ‘golden age’ authors, such as for example Josephine Tey (Daughter of Time) or Agatha Christie (Taken at the Flood). Shakespearean quotes in Sayers’ crime stories are mainly ornamental and rarely have an important function in the plot. In her two last novels, however, Sayers begins using Shakespeare’s plays in a different way: she tries to find ‘untold’ stories behind the text or tell an alternative, ‘better’ version. From this point of view, Gaudy Night may be considered an ‘improved’ version of The Taming of the Shrew, and Busman’s Honeymoon of Coriolanus and Hamlet. In certain aspects such practice resembles that of J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams, although Sayers’ attention turned to different matters and different kind of stories.