Though the facts may be a little confused in Lisa's comment, it is true that very often Shakespeare did take stories from other authors and use them himself. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe that is the basis of the play being performed within A Midsummer Night's Dream, and closely resembles Romeo and Juliet, was originally penned by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. If you read up on the sources that Shakespeare used for his plays, you'll find that many of the characters, if not many of the plots themselves, were based in previously written literature. I love Shakespeare, and wouldn't go so far as to call him a thief or a liar, as some have here. His reworking of great characters, both fiction and real, is beyond compare. But we need to recognize that his ideas are not all original ones, and give the original authors their due.
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