Shakespeare's Sources
Shakespeare's fame and popularity have come from his original and beautiful ways of telling stories. However, very few of Shakespeare’s plots and characters were completely his own. Shakespeare borrowed from other playwrights of his era, popularized Classical texts of the Renaissance and other popular stories. It is agreed that the story of Titus Andronicus is not based in truth or history. It is instead a fictional story which Shakespeare composed after being influenced by several different sources. Titus Andronicus could have been influenced by many different things. However, there are several sources which scholars agree influenced Shakespeare’s play: The Gesta Romanorum, Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta.