o make the story theatrically workable, relevant, and exciting to the demanding Elizabethan audience. Seneca's influence formed part of a developing tradition of tragedies, whose plots hinge on political power, forbidden sexuality, family honor, and private revenge. "There was no author who exercised a wider or deeper influence upon the Elizabethan mind or upon the Elizabethan form of tragedy than did Seneca." For the Renaissance Italian, French, and English dramatists, classical tragedy included only the ten Latin plays of Seneca, and excluded Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles. "Hamlet is certainly not much like any play of Seneca's one can name, but Seneca is undoubtedly one of the effective ingredients in the emotional charge of Hamlet. Hamlet without Seneca is inconceivable."
             During the period of Elizabethan theater, plays about tragedy and revenge were very common and a regular convention was based upon certain aspects that were worked into a typical revenge tragedy. In all revenge tragedies, first and foremost, a crime is committed and for various reasons, laws and justice cannot punish the crime. Therefore, the main character pursues his revenge, in spite of everything around him. The main character then usually experiences a period of doubt, when he tries to decide whether or not to go through with the revenge, which usually involves complex planning and much personal debate. Another typical feature was the appearance of a ghost who urges the lead character, seeking revenge, to go through with the deed. The "revenger", as he is sometimes called, also usually had a very close relationship with the audience through soliloquies and asides, which are personal speeches in which the character evaluates his mind or the current situation. The original crime is almost always sexual, violent, or both. The main crime is always committed against a close family member of the "revenger". The main character then places himself o...