Shakespeare’s Interwoven Classical Sources in Midsummer Night's Dream

In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as in his other works, Shakespeare has referred to several classical sources. Through this process of rewriting and “modernization,” the classics are kept alive. In this particular work, the four main stories can be tied together by works such as Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The story of the quarrel between Oberon and Titania, the King and Queen of the Fairies can be linked to the romances of the four youths, Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena because they both drew from the Metamorphoses. Hermia swears “By the simplicity of Venus’ doves,” taking us back to the silver doves that drew the love-goddess away in the final stanza of...