  Haltrin-Khalturina-EV-vestnik-2025-2-ru.pdf |
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- Allusions to Macbeth by William Shakespeare in the last novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood by C.J.H. Dickens
- Haltrin-Khalturina E.V. Allusions to Macbeth in Dickens’ Last Novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2025, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 90–96. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2025-31-2-90-96
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2025-31-2-90-96
- УДК: 821(410.1).09”16/17”
- EDN: JWBLQD
- Publish date: 2025-03-25
- Annotation: Although the presence of Shakespearean allusions in Dickens’ works is well known to scholars, translations and adaptations of The Mystery of Edwin Drood often overlook this aspect of the novel, affecting its reception outside the Anglophone world. This study focuses on the system of key references to Macbeth in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and examines how these reminiscences shape the interpretation of the novel’s characters and events. It explores Dickens’ use of both explicit and implicit quotations from Shakespeare’s tragedy to create an atmosphere of fatal inevitability, drawing a parallel between John Jasper and Macbeth. The article discusses the motifs of betrayal of hospitality and madness, emphasising the significance of the storm scene, which symbolises the violation of moral and cosmic order. Special attention is given to the opium den keeper, Princess Puffer, whose role evokes that of Macbeth’s witches. The study further examines the parallels between the hallucinations haunting both Macbeth and John Jasper. In addition to a literary analysis, the article offers a brief overview of several screen adaptations of Drood, including the 1980 Soviet television production.
- Keywords: Dickens, William Shakespeare, reminiscences, allusions, Gothic, suggestion, storm scene, hospitality, spectral visions, translations, adaptations
- Literature list: Chechetko M., Frolov I. Velikaya zagadka: roman Charl'za Dikkensa «Tayna Edvina Druda» v literaturnoy kritike i v popytkakh yego zaversheniya [The Great Riddle: Charles Dickens’s Novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood in Literary Criticism and in Attempts to Complete It]. Deutsche Internationale Zeitschrift Für Zeitgenössische Wissenschaft, 2023, no. 57, pp. 26-30. (In Russ.) Dickens Ch. Tayna Edvina Druda [The Mystery of Edwin Drood], trans. from English by O. Kholmskaya. Sobraniye sochineniy Dikkensa: v 30 t. T. 27 [Collected Works of Dickens: in 30 vols. Vol. 27], ed. by A.A. Anikst, V.V. Ivasheva. Moscow, Gos. izd. khudozh. lit-ry Publ., 1962, pp. 277-583. (In Russ.) Haltrin-Khalturina E.V. Dikkens i igry v variacii i nominacii-2: Roman «Tajna Edvina Druda» i syurprizy zhanra [Dickens and the Variations/Nominations Game-2: The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Wanders of the Genre]. Anglijskaja klassicheskaja literatura v mirovoj kul’ture: recepcii, transformacii, interpretacii [English classical literature in world culture: receptions, transformations, interpretations], ed. by Maria R. Nenarokova. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, p. 314-340. (In Russ.) Safonova S.Yu. Osobennosti postroyeniya syuzheta v romane F.M. Dostoyevskogo «Prestupleniye i nakazaniye» i romane Ch. Dikkensa “Tayna Edvina Druda» [Features of the plot construction in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment” and the novel by C. Dickens “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”]. Gumanitarnyye i sotsial'no-ekonomicheskiye nauki [Humanitarian and socio-economic sciences], 2012, no. 4 (65), pp. 94-97. (In Russ.) Shakespeare W. Makbet [Macbeth], trans. by Yu. Korneev. Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy: v 8 t. [Complete Works: in 8 vols. Vol. 7], ed. by A. Smirnov, A. Anikst. Moscow, Iskusstvo Publ., 1960, pp. 3-100. (In Russ.) Beer J. Opium, Dreams, and the Unconscious in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens Studies Annual, 1984, vol. 13, pp. 157-175. Bridgham E. Recent Dickens Studies: 2011. Dickens Studies Annual, 2013, vol. 44, pp. 243-267. Cox D.R. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: An Annotated Bibliography. New York, AMS, 1998, XXXVI + 669 p. Dickens Ch. The Mystery of Edwin Drood. London, Chapman and Hall Publ., 1870, 190 p. Duffield H. The Macbeth Motif in Edwin Drood. The Dickensian, 1934, no. 30, pp. 263-271. Gager V.L. Shakespeare and Dickens: The Dynamics of Influence. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press Publ., 1996, 419 p. Jacobson W.S. The Companion to “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”. London, Allen & Unwin Publ., 1986, XVII+209 p. Matz B.W. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: A Bibliography. The Dickensian, 1911, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 130-133. Orford P. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens' Unfinished Novel & Our Endless Attempts to End It. Barnsley (UK), Pen & Sword Books Publ., 2018, 259 p. Pypeć M. Playing with the Past: Neo-Victorianism and Metatheatricality in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Anglica: An International Journal of English Studies, 2011, vol. 20, pp. 81-99. Robison R. Storm Symbolism and Fate in Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Journal of Victorian Studies, 1972, vol. 19, pp. 45-67. Shakespeare W. Macbeth, ed. by S. Clark & P. Mason. London, Bloomsbury Publ., 2015, 447 p. (The Arden Shakespeare Third Series). [Electronic Kindle edition]. Wadoux C. Dickens and His Doppelgängers: Playing Detective in Neo-Victorian Fiction. Litterae Mentis: Studies in Literature and Consciousness, 2018, vol. 5, pp. 19-36. Whiteley G. The Gothic in Dickens and Shakespeare: Shadows and Echoes. The Palgrave Handbook of Gothic Origins, ed. by Clive Bloom. London, Palgrave Macmillan Publ., 2021, pp. 92-115.