This chapter's epigraph comes from a famous line in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, in which Hamlet says, "I am not a poet, I am a poet's son." In this passage, Hamlet says that he is the son of the martyr who was hanged in the Tower of London, and that his father is the hero of the play. Hamlet's father was hanged for his part in the mutiny against King Edward IV, and Hamlet is the illegitimate son of King Edward. Hamlet explains that he has been locked away in the dungeon for 20 years, and he has given up hope of ever seeing his father again.