The influence of Hamlet…

As I was watching PBS’s “Shakespeare Uncovered” analysis of Hamlet a while ago, I realized how much that play has influenced writers. Revenge is a common plot device, and often, like in Hamlet, it doesn’t turn out well for the avenger. Hamlet’s moralistic dilemma so aptly portrayed by Shakespeare (for example, Hamlet can kill his uncle in one scene, but refrains from doing so when the uncle is praying, thinking that will send his father’s assassin to heaven instead of hell). But in other works, protagonis...