When in Doubt, It's from Shakespeare...

At first the title of the chapter reminded me of a story that was written by Shakespeare that was based on a story of my ancestors adventures to the New World. My ancestors were on the second set of ships that were supposed to go to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. Sadly, the two ships that they were on got shipwrecked in Bermuda instead. However, my ancestors were shipbuilders/captains of ships. When their story of how they got to Jamestown reached England, it inspired William Shakespeare to write The Tempest.
I was in an acting class/camp a few years ago with Junior Players and we performed A Midsummer Nights' Dream, much like they did this past spring at Booker T. I played Cobweb. I've never seen West Side Story, but I have seen a lot of the adaptations or movies of Shakespeare's plays. I always found the translations of Shakespeare's work to be extremely amusing. Shakespeare is so common and famous that even if you haven't read any of his works, you can still tell what his writing is like, etc from something that references to one of his works. if that makes sense.
Everyone knows Shakespeare. Everyone recognizes his literature. He's the legend of literature. Of course, other writers are going to use his text for reference or inspiration. This is where writers of our era get their influence from: brilliant writers from previous eras. This commonality between the two eras comes from this appreciation and inspiration that modern writers have for Shakespeare's works. The writers don't borrow his ideas simply because they are lazy and couldn't be bothered with coming up with their own plot lines and characters. They do it to highlight features in their own work. There might be a character from one of Shakespeare;s plays that would work perfectly to complete the story of a current writer's text or a specific ending Shakespeare wrote that a writer might be inspired to resuscitate to become more modern. It might be hard to believe that Shakespeare's writing is still somehow relatable in the 21st century, however this is the challenge for the writer: learn how to rework characters or messages from the fifteen hundreds into modern day writing. This exploration between the two eras makes the writing new and more interesting. It is left up to the writer how they want to alter the text from Shakespeare's original version. Again this commonality between the eras is what continues to maintain the legacy from sacred writers (such as Shakespeare), and keep them relevant by incorporating their ideas into today's writing for people to recognize and be able to to identify with. For example, there are hundreds of books, movies and plays that reference to Shakespeare, especially of his more famous works such as Romeo and Juliet and a Midsummer Night's Dream.