The excerpt from Richard II quoted in yesterday's post contains many forerunners of ideas that would be further explored in Hamlet, as I mentioned. There are even storyline echoes of the latter in lines about kings being haunted by "the ghosts they have deposed", and others "sleeping kill'd". The references to worms, bones, paste, and burials of course bring to mind the churchyard scene (5.1), and then there is the unusual word "antic" which is very important to the plot because Hamlet uses it to introduce his plan to simulate madness ("As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on").

Finally, there's the overlap in the characters of the protagonists themselves. How much of it there is would be a matter of opinion, but there's no question there is some. One quality they certainly share is the ability to get away with actions quite egregious in nature - in the minds of audiences, anyway - less so with other characters, which is probably due to the way they show their humanity so openly and completely. We forgive them the way we do ourselves.

On a lighter note, here's a link to the highly amusing theme song (I think it's called "Cheer Up, Hamlet") to the first season of the highly amusing television series called Slings and Arrows, which starred Paul Gross and ran from 2003 to 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvmMt_xG1tI&feature=related.