Which of the following plays is not known to have been based on any existing literary or historical work?
A) Cymbeline B) Measure for Measure C) Romeo and Juliet D) The Tempest ü
Nearly all of Shakespeare’s almost forty plays have one or more sources, mostly in classical or medieval literature and histories. Some, like Cymbeline and the history plays, are derived from the medieval chronicler Holinshed. Those set in ancient times are often based on the Lives of the Greek historian Plutarch. Others still drew on sources that were contemporary to Shakespeare or nearly so: both Measure for Measure and Romeo and Juliet are in this category. The remaining few, including The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labor’s Lost seem to have no major source other than the playwright’s own imagination.
