Fratricide is founded as the result of a fratricide, when the twins Romulus and Remus quarrel over who has the favor of the gods and over each other's plans to build Rome, and Romulus becomes Rome's first king and namesake after killing his brother. In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, Karna was killed by Arjuna who didn't know that Karna was his eldest brother. Though not exactly fratricide the otherwise meticulously pious Arjuna's actions - where he pitilessly and against the rules of honorable warfare slayed an unarmed Karna - are nevertheless considered utterly deplorable and heinous. However, the context of the
Fratricide Punished willingness to disregard the importance of Shakespeare's authorship in the text, in accordance with earlier understandings of authorship, a constant facet of "Hamlet" discussions. This is not to say that "Fratricide Punished" is without influence on theatrical productions. Both Q1 Hamlet and "Fratricide Punished" place their scenes in a different order than do the Q2 and folio versions of "Hamlet", and this may have inspired stage directors to reorder their own productions of "Hamlet" in turn. A version of "Fratricide Punished" was performed at the NADA theater in New York City for the "Hamlet" Festival of 1994 alongside a rap