Philostrate (/ˈfɪləstreɪt/; meaning "lover of battle")[1] is a fictional character in a number of literary works,[2] including William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596).
[3] Theseus, eager to please his fiancée, Hippolyta, and the rest of his court, chooses Pyramus and Thisbe despite Philostrate's efforts.
Shakespeare is known for borrowing plots and characters from other stories, but the source of A Midsummer Night's Dream has proved difficult to trace.
His name is the pseudonym adopted by Arcite upon covertly returning to Athens in The Knight's Tale to work for Theseus.
[4] Because Chaucer's Arcite adopts this identity to become a servant at Theseus' court, it is possible that the Midsummer Night's Dream character is meant to be the same person in a continuation of the story.
Another candidate for the source of Philostrate's character is Philostratus the Elder, the author of Comus, a play which has similarities to Midsummer Night's Dream.
[5] Philostrate's duty in Theseus' court is to examine the play that Nick Bottom and the others are about to perform and to make suggestions for improvement.
At one point, when Theseus asks Philostrate to recommend a play to help pass the time, he lists several which sound ridiculous, such as "the battle with the centaurs to be sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp".