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1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS

In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale' is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.'

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