Куприков. Из этого я заключил, что он замышляет недоброе дело, а потому обращаюсь снова к вам, Любовь Ивановна, и к тебе, дорогой Алёша, при свидетелях, с убедительной просьбой принять максимальные меры предосторожности.
Трощейкин. Да! Но какие, какие?
Писатель. "Зад, - как сказал бы Шекспир, - зад из зык вещан". (Kuprikov, too, asks Troshcheykin and his wife to take maximum precautions. When Troshcheykin asks which precautions can he take, the famous writer quotes Hamlet's words in mock English: "that, as Shakespeare would say, that is the question." Act Two)
In his youth Blok played Hamlet and his future wife Lyubov' played Ophelia when in the Mendeleev estate they presented scenes from Shakespeare's play. Many years later the poet still identified himself with Hamlet:
Я - Гамлет. Холодеет кровь,
Когда плетёт
коварство сети,
И в сердце - первая любовь
Жива - к единственной на
свете.
Тебя, Офелию мою,
Увёл далёко жизни холод,
И гибну, принц, в
родном краю
Клинком отравленным заколот.
"I am Hamlet. My blood freezes..." (1914) Btw., Revshin asks Troshcheykin to keep his sangfroid (будем хладнокровны).
On the other hand, the lyrical hero of Blok's poem "It was an autumnal evening..." (see my previous post) tries to solve "the same tantalizing question" when that gentleman followed by a shaggy dog enters his spacious study:
Решал всё тот же я — мучительный вопрос,
Когда
в мой кабинет, огромный и туманный,
Вошёл тот джентльмен. За ним — лохматый
пёс.
As I pointed out before, A. A.
Blok shares his initials with A. A. Barboshin, the
devil in a sleuth's disguise. Both the devils and
sleuths appear in Blok's poetry. In the cycle "The Life of My
Pal" (1914-15) one of the poems is written from the point of view of
the devils (who insist that they are "as pure as angels"). Тайные сыщики (secret sleuths) are mentioned in
Blok's poem "Есть игра: осторожно
войти..." ("There is a game: to enter
carefully...")