Intertextual and Metatextual Connections to Shakespeare in the Musical Something Rotten!

The study of intertextuality and metatextuality can be applied to a wide variety of texts, as well as to other literary forms such as musicals. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the examples and the extent of inter- and metatextual references in the musical Something Rotten!, which is loosely based on Shakespeare’s works. The purpose of the analysis is to determine how inter- and metatextual elements can be applied to a musical, how this genre can be enriched with the addition of such elements, and what may be the potential issues when inter- and metatextual references are incorporated into a musical.