Lots of visual and other references to Shakespeare's plays, especially Hamlet, pepper this story. Two of the village names, Elsinore (Hamlet's castle) and Osric (a courtier), come from 'Hamlet'. A gravedigger plays with a skull (Yorick's). The funeral parlour sign reads "This Mortal Coil". When Messrs R and G wake Quintus in the church, their lines, "Is this the promised end? / Or image of that horror?", are from 'King Lear' Act 5, Scene 3. 'Quintus' is a character in Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus'. Sebastian's quote at the end, "O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side!", comes from Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 2.
Mr. R and Mr G., the sinister men, are a reference to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from 'Hamlet'.
The title comes from Kent's lines in 'King Lear' Act 5, Scene 3, "KENT: Is this the promised end?".
The plot has many parallels to WS Gilbert's 1874 play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which was inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Luella named her red Mini car "Robyn."