ABSTRACT
Myth is a complex category. It has meant many things in different eras and in various fields, and its boundaries are decidedly difficult to police. Cicero's definition of fabula as a narrative 'in which the events are not true and have no verisimilitude' could be seen as a useful starting point. In Shakespeare's plays myths are above all tools with which to reveal and explore the complex contradictions within human nature rather than keys to forces outside human knowledge and experience. If myths sometimes fail to 'compute', so too do people, both real and fictional, and this makes myths opportune allusive mechanisms for complicating our sense of character in the poems and plays. One barrier to seeing Shakespeare as a creator of myths is his status as an unremarkable historical figure. But the comparative lack of documentary traces has proved fortuitous for those wishing to mythologise the playwright himself.
