The Irony and Symbolism Such is the genius and so great is the scope of Shakespeare's writings that there can be little doubt that a common perception is one of an imaginative mind concocting stories. In fact Shakespeare had many sources and much of his work was based on historical fact. Holinshed chronicled in the sixteenth century, the histories of England, Scotland and Ireland, and it is from the "Historie of Scotland" that Shakespeare built significant parts of this drama. For example, the murder of King Duff and the insomnia born of guilt ....