The Writing On The Wall - Influence

Influence

• The incident is both recounted and illustrated during the Middle Ages, perhaps most notably in the Pearl Poet's poem Cleanness.
• Belshazzar's Feast (Walton) is a cantata by the English composer William Walton. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions and one of the most popular works in the English choral repertoire.
• In John Cheever's short story "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," the narrator encounters graffiti (one example running several pages) in various public washrooms.
• In Robert Louis Stevenson's book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll explains that his experience as Mr. Hyde was "like the Babylonian finger on the wall, to be spelling out the letters of my judgment . . . "
• In the musical revue Pins and Needles, a song entitled "Mene, Mene, Tekel" uses the tale as allegory describing contemporary social injustices.
• In Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Hamm asks of Clov, "and what do you see on your wall? Mene, mene? Naked bodies?"
• In Voltairine de Cleyre's last poem, "Written in Red, the first verse begins: Written in red their protest stands,
  For the Gods of the World to see;
  On the dooming wall their bodiless hands
  Have blazoned "Upharsin," and flaring brands
  Illumine the message: "Seize the lands!
  Open the prisons and make men free!"
  Flame out the living words of the dead
  Written—in—red.
• In Jose Rizal's second novel El Filibusterismo, Crisostomo Ibarra, disguised as Simoun, planted an explosive disguised as a kerosene lamp in a reception party in Captain Tiago's house, in an attempt to kill all high-ranking officials of the society and the church which will attend. He also leaves a note behind, "Mene, Thecel, Pares", plus his name in his own handwriting.
• In the novel City of Ashes, part of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, Clary uses her stele to write a rune on Valentine's boat. Although the rune simply means "Open," Clary's extraordinary powers amplify it so as to destroy the ship by ripping apart its bolts. Valentine looks on in awed horror and says, "mene mene tekel upharsin," because he realizes that Clary's powers represent a massive change in the order of things, which will lead to the Clave's, or his own, doom.
• In V. by Thomas Pynchon, Rachel leaves a written note on a wall to the schlemihl Benny Profane. In response to it Stencil states to Profane, "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." implying his impending demise. (Chapt. 15, pg 448)
• The Prodigy song Omen uses this phrase as a lyric.
• The Einstürzende Neubauten song Wüste also has the line "mene, mene tekel, upharshin" in the lyrics.
• "The Writing On the Wall" is the finale song of the musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
• The characters of Bertie and Aunt Dahlia discuss a reference to Belshazzar's Feast in chapter 9 of the novel Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse.
• The song Mene, Mene, Tekel appears on the soundtrack album of Pins and Needles.