Source study

Abstract

Abstract Whereas for the modern reader the study of Shakespeare's sources tends to suggest a species of archaeological investigation, designed to explore the range of the dramatist's reading rather than elucidate the plays, for Shakespeare's contemporaries the recognition of the material used in the construction of a literary work afforded a significant element of the pleasure afforded by the text. The creative process during the Renaissance was rooted in the concept of imitation, a methodology wholly at odds with the emphasis placed on originality today. Children were trained to write during this period through the study and adaptation of literary models, and thus to appreciate the fresh meanings produced by the deft alteration of a source. As a product of this educational system, Shakespeare was not aloof from these mental habits but turned naturally to the literary stock in the construction of his plays. Rather than inventing his own plots or dramatic situations, he shaped inherited stories to his own ends, implicitly inviting the more discerning of his audience, in some instances, to reflect on novel departures from familiar motifs.