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Chris K. N.'s avatar

That’s a helpful perspective. Thanks.

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Alan Whiplington's avatar

Shakespeare was a plagiarist. He rewrote stories that had been written by Italians. It's even evident in words he used. To my knowledge, the only use of the word 'fardels' in English appears in Hamlet: "Call you 'em fardels?" The word means 'bundle' and is, presumably, lifted directly from the Italian source (fardelo).

Yet people don't appear too bothered by his plagiarism, and justifiably so. It was the way he wrote the story that counted, and the nuances of the human condition that he explored.

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