Shakespeare and Amber

Here is a catalog of all the Shakespeare references in The Chronicles of Amber:

In the State of Denmark there was the odor of decay... (Ch. 1, NPIA)

This is a reference to the line from Act I Scene 1 of Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the State of Denmark."

The Forest of Arden

The setting for Shakespeare's play As You Like It. Arden was also the maiden name of Shakespeare's mother, and her family home is located within the Forest of Arden.

"Ill met by moonlighht," said Deirdre. (Ch. 4, NPIA)

This Shakespeare quote comes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's Oberon speaking to Titania, which is fun, given that Oberon is a name that Zelazny lifts for the missing father and King of Amber in the Corwin stories.

We were drinking beer and wine, and Shaxpur said he was drunk and went off to puke. (Ch. 5, NPIA)

This is likely a reference to Corwin's relationship to the Bard during his time on Shadow Earth. Corwin was banished by Eric to Elizabethan London on Shadow Earth during Shakespeare's lifetime.

 "It's true, that uneasy-lies-the-head bit." (Eric, Ch. 5, NPIA)

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" comes from Henry IV, part 2. It's the final line of the monologue in Act III, Scene 1, spoken by Henry IV, as he muses about how sleep comes to the most humble peasant easier than it does to the great.

Oberon

Character from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon is the The King of the Fairies.

To sleep, perchance to dream... Yeah, there's a thing that rubs. (Ch. 6, NPIA)

This is a reference to the famous soliloquy in Act III, Scene 1 of Hamlet, in which he says: "To die, to sleep— To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub!"

I suddenly felt tears come into my eyes, for the men who are not like the lords of Amber, living but a brief span and passing into dust. (Ch. 6, NPIA)

This is a loose combination reference to "Out, out, brief candle!" from Macbeth, and "yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" from Hamlet.

The music rose up softly -- it was "Greensleeves" -- and somewhere at my back Julian said, "Behold the crowning of a new king in Amber!" (Ch. 8, NPIA)

Greensleeves is a traditional English folk song, firt registered in 1580, in Shakespeare's lifetime. In The Merry Wives of Windsor (written c. 1597; first published in 1602), the character Mistress Ford refers twice to "the tune of 'Greensleeves'", and Falstaff later exclaims: "Let the sky rain potatoes! Let it thunder to the tune of 'Greensleeves'!"

I would never rest until I held vengeance and the throne within my hand, and good night sweet prince to anybody who stood between me and these things. (NPIA, Ch. 10)

This is a reference to Horatio's line in the final secne of Hamlet. Horatio says of his dead friend: "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

"I would say one of its minions is looking for me. Perhaps, somehow, that is what my father's ghost... I do not know." (TGOA, Ch. 2)

In this scene with Lorraine, Corwin says "my father's ghost" in reference to the image of his father that Lorraine has just seen. However, the image of Oberon that Lorraine saw was not ghost-like, nor is Oberon actually dead... nor does Corwin believe Oberon to be dead, since he spoke with him in NPIA. Corwin's use of the phrase "my father's ghost" is likely an allusion (perhaps even unintentional) to Hamlet, in which the ghost of Hamlet's father is featured prominently. 

I believe you, never doubt it, for we are all of us honorable men. (TGOA, Ch. 8)

Corwin says this about Eric, after he reads his truce offer. This is a veiled reference to the recurring "honorable man" phrase from Marc Antony's famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." speech, in which he says: "For Brutus is an honorable man; / So are they all, honorable men." (Act III, Scene 2)

So Childe Random to the dark tower came. (SOTU, Ch. 2)

This line from Random, as he tells the story of his failed attempt to rescue Brand, is an allusion to Robert Browning's 1855 poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", which is itself based upon an earlier English fairy tale. While Zelazny waas probably working from the Browning poem (given the spelling of "Childe"), the fairy tale is also referenced in Shakespeare. In Act IV of King Lear, Edgar (disguised as a beggar) says, "Child Rowland to the dark tower came."

"To paraphrase Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys," I said, "I wish I had known this some time ago." (SOTU, Ch. 3)

Here Corwin is citing two of Shakespeare's most famous characters.

Osric

"We are both too young to remember brothers Osric and Finndo, who died for the good of Amber." (Random, SOTU, Ch. 3)

Osric is the name of the courtier who oversees the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes in Act V of Hamlet.

Iago

The name of Random's horse, destroyed by the Primal Pattern in Ch. 1 of THOH, comes from the villain Iago in Shakespeare's Othello.

  "Good night, sweet Prince," he [Brand] said, and he moved to close with him. (THOO, Ch. 13)

Here we have the second invoking of this line from the final scene of Hamlet.

The mad prince of Amber seated himself at the desk, returned his attention to the opened volume. (TCOC, Ch. 1)

Here, the "mad prince" is a loose allusion to Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, who is widely known through the centuries as the "mad prince." In the play, Hamlet is first accused of madness when he is seen reading a book; the connection is made here, as Corwin is also reading from a book. But Zelazny is playing with the word "mad" -- in this opening scene, Corwin is angry at his father.

I looked back once to the empty place where my dream had come true. Such is the stuff. (TCOC, Ch. 1)

Zelazny bookends the first chapter of The Courts of Chaos with another Shakespeare references. This line refers to Act VI, Scene 1 of The Tempest, where, after causing spirts he has summoned to disappear, Prospero delivers the famous speech: "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on, and our little life / is rounded by a sleep."

Rinaldo

The name of Brand's son is likely inspired by Reynaldo, a servant of Polonius in Hamlet. Reynaldo is a minor character, sent by Polonius to spy on his son Laertes.

Shadow and Substance

Zelazny may have been inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet #53: (credit to John Keane for this one)

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new.
Speak of the spring and foison of the year:
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessèd shape we know.
    In all external grace you have some part,
    But you like none, none you, for constant heart.