Nicholas Rowe (writer) said to have suggested to Samuel Richardson the character of Clarissa Harlowe, as Lothario suggested Lovelace. Samuel Johnson noted of "The Fair Penitent" that, "The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or spritely as occasion requires." In 1704, Rowe tried his hand at comedy, producing "The Biter" at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was unsuccessful, and Rowe returned to tragedy in "Ulysses" (1706). According to Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, "We have been
Penitent thief Don Willis wrote about the two thieves crucified with Jesus in his novel "Tale of the Penitent Thief". The book went on to be awarded as a Finalist in the 2014 International Book Awards, Religious Fiction category. In the 2016 film "Ben-Hur", Dismas is first shown as a teenage zealot whose family has been murdered by the Romans and later crucified beside Jesus. Dismas, the highwayman provided to the player in the first level of roguelike video game "Darkest Dungeon", is named after the penitent thief. Dismas is featured as an integral part of the storyline of the video game