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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Spanish Tragedy:
Matthew, “the town gull” (that is, a foolish young man living in London), visits the boastful Captain Bobadil in a room that he rents from Cob, a working-class water-bearer. Their conversation alludes to The Spanish Tragedy, a play first written and performed in London in the previous decade:
BOBADIL
What new book ha' you there? What! 'Go by, Hieronymo'?MATTHEW
Aye, did you ever see it acted? Is't not well penned?BOBADIL
Well penned? I would fain see all the poets of these times pen such another play as that was! They'll prate and swagger, and keep a stir of art and devices, when (as I am a gentleman) read 'em, they are the most shallow, pitiful, barren fellows that live upon the face of the earth, again!MATTHEW
Indeed, here are a number of fine speeches in this book! 'Oh eyes, no eyes, but fountains fraught with tears'! There's a conceit!
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—He's No Precisian:
When Kitely asks Cash to keep an eye on his wife, Dame Kitely, Cash agrees but does not swear to it, prompting Kitely to express his doubts in an aside. In doing so, Kitely alludes to various Christian denominations while expressing his skepticism regarding Cash's trustworthiness:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He will not swear, he has some reservation,
Some concealed purpose, and close meaning, sure;
Else (being urged so much) how should he choose
But lend an oath to all this protestation?
He's no precisian, that I am certain of.
Nor rigid Roman Catholic. He'll play
At Fayles, and Tick-tack, I have heard him swear.
What should I think of it? Urge him again,
And by some other way? I will do so.
Well, Thomas, thou hast sworn not to disclose;
Yes, you did swear?
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Hero and Leander:
In a scene in which a crowd of guests gathers in the home of the absent Kitely, the play alludes to “Hero and Leander,” a poem by Elizabethan poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe:
Unlock with LitCharts A+MATTHEW
'Rare creature, let me speak without offence,
Would God my rude words had the influence,
To rule thy thoughts, as thy fair looks do mine,
Then should'st thou be his prisoner, who is thine.'
EDWARD
This is in Hero and Leander?
WELLBRED
Oh, ay! Peace, we shall have more of this.
MATTHEW
'Be not unkind and fair, misshapen stuff
Is of behaviour boisterous, and rough [...]
But observe the catastrophe, now:
'And I in duty will exceed all other,
As you in beauty do excel love's mother.'
EDWARD
Well, I'll have him free of the wit-brokers, for he utters nothing but stol'n remnants.
Related Themes:
