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Essay on Did William Shakespeare Write the Plays and Sonnets or Not?

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Throughout the last century, a raging phenomenon known as the “Authorship Debate”, has come to light. It disputes whether Shakespeare himself wrote the plays and sonnets or if it was someone else writing under a pseudonym. There are countless theories of who the writer might actually be but the main suspects are Shakespeare himself, Edward de Vere, Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, William Stanley, Roger Manners, Sir Walter Raleigh and Mary Sidney Herbert (Pressley). The first to be presumed the writer is Shakespeare himself. Many theorists believe it wasn’t Shakespeare due to the fact that he was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was a poor countryside area. Shakespeare was a glove-maker with a low level of education. He wasn’t a …show more content…

But the fact remains that his name, whether he wrote the plays or not, is credited as the author so in some way shape or form he wrote the plays. Sir Francis Bacon is the next suspect. Sir Francis Bacon was an advanced thinker as well as someone of high standing. During the Elizabethan Era, if someone was of high standing and social class, they were so noble that they had no reason to partake in anything revolving the theater, which was beneath them. That being said, it was supposedly it is one of the reasons why he would become anonymous if he was to post anything. The main evidence people use to prove that he was in fact the write was his book Promus. According to Summary of Baconian Evidence for Shakespeare Authorship, the only Shakespeare notebook, which is a collection of words, phrases and sentences, is actually Promus written by Francis Bacon himself. Promus was written between the years of 1594-1956, whereas all of Shakespeare's plays and poems were written in the 1600's. In most of Shakespeare's plays, there were some words, phrases, even sentences used. For example, in Henry V, Act 3, Scene 7, the line “A fool's bolt is soon shot.” is also in Promus. Another one, for example, is in not only one but four plays. In Merry Wives of Windsor Act 3, Scene 4, Henry IV, Act 2, Scene 2, The Taming of the Shrew Act 1, Scene 1 and the Winter's, Tale Act 1,Scene 2, the

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