shakespeare's sources include works by plutarch, apuleius, ovid, geoffrey chaucer, and edmund spenser. he found a description of puck in reginald scot's "the discoverie of witchcraft" (1584). it is generally believed that the play was written for the festivities surrounding the aristocratic marriage of either elizabeth vere, lord burghley’s granddaughter, in 1595, or elizabeth carey, daughter of sir george carey, in 1596.