Batman and Hamlet

There are several key elements that connect Batman to the Shakespearean story of hamlet. I will outline three of them below.

Both have had a parent murdered

• The father of Hamlet was murdered by his uncle, who then married his mother to become the new king.
• Joe Chill murdered both parents of Batman, as they were leaving a movie house in which they were watching The Mark of Zorro (1940) starring Tyrone Power.

Both have a dark and tortured soul

• When Hamlet first enters the stage in Act 3 Scene 1, he starts contemplating suicide. The death of his father drives him mad and brings his to debating if he should take his revenge or just end his own life.
• The death of his parents causes Batman to have a split personality. His psychosis causes him to reverse his roles, turning Bruce Wayne into the alter ego and making Batman is his "real" self.

Both are obsessed with avenging his parents death.

• Hamlet waits for the right time to kill his uncle. He could have done it in Act 2 but waits three more acts until everything is "just right" for his plans of revenge.
• Batman has multiple origin stories, in some he kills Joe Chill and in others he doesn't. In either case, he deals with his vengeance by fighting crime and putting as many criminals as possible in jail.