Eric of Scatterings has a nice little piece on Ruth. As you all know, my current research is on Ruth and Targum Ruth. Eric provides a nice rundown of the plot and how the book is exceedingly positive.
There are several points in Hamlet or King Lear where things could get better – where characters might start to understand one another, and the destruction of the characters lives might not be so total. But in a tragedy, these opportunities slip away. The book of Ruth is kind of the opposite of that. It gets better and better and better. Not that Im criticizing Shakespeare, mind you – life is like that sometimes.