Shakespeare's Source of Inspiration

Paper Summary:

One of Shakespeare's greatest sources of inspiration was Roman writer, Ovid. This paper looks at how and why Ovid's "Metamorphoses" was such an influential text to Shakespeare. The paper focuses on "A Midsummer Night's Dream", in particular the play within a play, Shakespeare's adaptation of the "Pyramus and Thisbe" story in the fifth act. Other Shakespearean plays influenced by Ovid's works are also discussed.

From the Paper:

"Other characters in this play drawn from Ovid are the fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania. There are no fairies in the Metamorphoses, but Oberon and Titania do act similarly to the gods of the poem. They control weather and people's emotions, and they help their favored mortals, as Oberon accuses Titania of, with her alliance to Theseus: "Didst thou not lead him through the glimmering night/ From Perigenia, whom he ravished?/And make him with fair Aegle break his faith,/ With Ariadne, and Antiopa" (2.1.77-80). This line also demonstrates that Theseus is involved in a rape, much like many of the Gods in the Metamorphoses. Also, the way Oberon and Titania argue and take revenge on each other is also reminiscent of the gods of the Metamorphoses."

More papers on Shakespeare's Source of Inspiration:

• Comparison Essay # 95808 : "Chaucer as a Source of Creative Inspiration"
• Analytical Essay # 19175 : "Conrad and Shakespeare: Sense of Humanity"

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