# Which plots did Shakespeare invent entirely on his own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118 "2014-07-15T00:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/1 "2014-07-15T00:37:48Z")
Hi, Shakespeare invented the plot of “The Tempest”. What were the other two? I haven’t been able to find information on that. I look forward to your feedback. davidmich [INNERLIGHT and INNERSOUND: How To Write Like Shakespeare](http://eddymumu.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-to-write-like-shakespeare.html) He was unencumbered by modern anxieties of originality, only inventing the plot for “The Tempest” and one or two others. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/2 "2014-07-15T01:24:22Z")
I don’t know of a specific source for _Midsummer_, although of course, Theseus and Hippolyta were not Shakespeare’s invention, and I also don’t know of any sources for _Love’s Labour’s Lost._ ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/3 "2014-07-15T01:27:51Z")
**Moderator Action** Get thee to a nunnery! Or at least to Cafe Society, where thou dost belong. Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/4 "2014-07-15T02:06:36Z")
And of course, even if the rest of _Midsummer_ was original, Pyramus and Thisbe (the play-within-the-play) was a much older story (and also one of the sources for _Romeo and Juliet_). ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/5 "2014-07-15T07:36:13Z")
As well as the two previously mentioned The Merry Wives of Windsor and Loves Labour’s Lost are often considered original plots, or their plots have not been definitively found elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/6 "2014-07-15T15:12:06Z")
Thank you Fuzzy Wuzzy. I couldn’t find that information. Tthank you all. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/7 "2014-07-15T15:39:57Z")
_Love’s Labours Lost_ seemed to me to be a fairly by-the-numbers comedy, not much different from any of Shakespeare’s other comedies, right up until the out-of-nowhere downer in the last scene. Are we considering that last scene to be enough to make the plot “original”, or is the rest of it original enough, too? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-plots-did-shakespeare-invent-entirely-on-his-own/693118/8 "2014-07-15T17:22:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Love’s Labours Lost_ seemed to me to be a fairly by-the-numbers comedy, not much different from any of Shakespeare’s other comedies, right up until the out-of-nowhere downer in the last scene. Are we considering that last scene to be enough to make the plot “original”, or is the rest of it original enough, too? Im not sure what counts as original plot. I do remember reading that three Shakespeare plays were considered original plots, or their plots had not definitively been found elsewhere. I knew of Midsummer and The Tempest but could not remember the other. Google gave me LLL and Merry Wives. It could be that LLL is not considered original by some. A number of these “original” plots of Shakespeare are in fact fairly plotless in themselves. On the other hand the “unoriginal” plot of MacBeth shows quite a bit of creativity/orginality in the changes Shakespeare made to it.