The Shakespeare Code it is one of his own from "Henry V", which was probably written in early 1599. When questioning Shakespeare about witches, Martha remarks that he has written about witches; a reference to "Macbeth", which Shakespeare denies. At the time in which the episode is set, Shakespeare had yet to write "Macbeth" or "Hamlet", which prominently feature the paranormal, such as witches and ghosts. There are numerous other allusions to Shakespeare's plays. Just before the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS, he exclaims "Brave new world", from Act V Scene I of "The Tempest". In an early scene a sign is
The Shakespeare Code glimpsed for an inn named "The Elephant". This is the name of an inn recommended in "Twelfth Night". The three Carrionites allude to the Weird Sisters from "Macbeth" (which was written several years after the setting of this episode); like them, the Carrionites use trochaic tetrameter and rhyming couplets to cast spells. When regressing the architect in Bedlam, The Doctor uses the phrase "A Winter's Tale", whilst the architect himself uses the phrase "poor Tom" in the same way as the 'mad' Edgar in "King Lear". Lilith credits the Carrionites' escape from the Eternals' banishment to 'new...glittering' words. Shakespeare is