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Coming up with original ideas for plot of plays was not Shakespeare's strong suit. He generally used a story idea he had read about and dramatised it. Sometimes he used passages from his sources with very little change (e.g. the description of Cleapatra's barge in Antony and Cleopatra; the explanation of Henry V's claim to the throne of France in Henry V) but what changes he did make were invariably improvements. The description of Cleopatra's barge in the original is clunky and dull; when Shakespeare was done with it, it sparkled.
Why did he do this? Presumably he felt that it was pointless to reinvent the wheel; why invent a second-rate plot when you can use a great one that already exists? Shakespeare was an expert in creating great dialogue and great characters out of these stale stories. Thank heaven he did copy them! Our ideas about copyright and originality would have prevented the greatest literature in the world from being written.
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Did someone else write all of William Shakespeare's works?
Shakespeare didn't write most of his work down, and was transcribed by spectators of the audience who wrote down what was happening. But Shakespeare is the author of his works, but probably did join with other writers.
When did Shakespeare produce his works?
Shakespeare wrote his works between 1590 (approximately) and 1613 when he retired.
Was king James the author of William Shakespeare's works?
no Shakespeare was
Why is there a debate about the authorship of Shakespeare's works?
because shakespeare is an important author
What work of shakespeare did accused first appear in?
There is no person of that name in any of Shakespeare's works.
