Shakespeare put many classical allusions from mythology into his work. His play Troilus and Cressida is based on the Trojan war, as depicted in Homer's Iliad and A Midsummer Night's Dream contains both the characters of Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
These classical allusions were all part of a classical education. But Shakespeare also put references to traditional English folklore into his work, which he probably wouldn't have discovered in the classroom. We explore a few of these characters, inside and outside of Shakespeare's plays.
