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
Shakespeare was a writer of many plays like Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet but, some people believe that he did not write his plays. In some of the sources they would explain that shakespeare couldn't have wrote the plays. The others sources say otherwise, they say that he could easily imagine how it would be like to be rich and their for him being able to write the plays. From all the evidence that the sources gave, Shakespeare did not or could not write his plays because he was not educated well enough to be able to write the plays with such sophisticated language another reason that Shakespeare was not the writer there's not enough evidence such as copies of the plays.
In 1564, a man was born by the name of William Shakespeare. He was born to a poor family, was given little education, and had no interaction with sophisticated society. Thirty-eight plays and over 150 sonnets are not attributed to this ignorant man. Those who believe that Shakespeare was the author have no definitive proof but instead point to Hamlet’s declaration: "The play’s the thing(Satchell 71)." The true author, however, lies hidden behind he name of Shakespeare. Edward de Vere the premier Earl of Oxford is not only considered a great poet in history, but he may also be the great playwright who concocted the sonnets and plays which are now attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford, England.
One of the most argued cases in history is whether or not William Shakespeare was the one to write his own plays, or if he had someone else write them for him. There are numerous amounts of arguments agreeing that Shakespeare wrote his plays, and then there are numerous amounts disagreeing with his penmanship of “his” plays. According to some sources, Shakespeare was an impractical choice to write such famous works of art due to his lack of traveling, and his lack of education (Hechinge). These theories come into play when explaining that Shakespeare was, indeed, a fraud.
They proposed many other claimants to the Shakespearean works but the most popular was Edward de Vere. I can understand why many of people’s opinions are this way because there is just so much evidence that Oxford could have authored them, but there is still just as much evidence that Shakespeare did write them. From personal knowledge, we all know that we don’t have many documentations nor knowledge of Shakespeare’s life. But after analyzing and putting pieces together of the actual minimal bits of information we DO have, in the end, they all point towards Shakespeare and Shakespeare only. All the websites I looked at contained many convincing and reasonable points from both sides of the argument but the following evidence is what proved to me, that Shakspeare indeed, did write Shakespeare. I learned that Shakespeare went to an excellent grammar school to learn Latin, in which is precisely needed for creating the plays and sonnets we have today. We understand that although there were many ways he wrote his name, still a nobleman like de Vere or Bacon couldn’t have presented their works like that. Also the fact that Shakespeare was known to do collaborations with other lowly playwrights because it was common in that era, proves that the wealthy nobles could never have collaborated with average
Abstract: The debate over the legitimacy of the authorship of Shakespearean works has been disputed for centuries. While many scholars have held beliefs that Shakespeare's works have been written by figures such as Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, William Stanley, and others, the most heated debate today is between William Shakespeare and Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford. Each side of this debate has many followers, the Stratfordians, or those who claim Shakespeare to be the true author, and the Oxfordians who believe that true credit should go to DeVere. My paper, far from being a complete analysis of the possibilities of Shakespearean authorship, attempts to summarize and rationalize the
People assume that just because as Pruitt (2015) explains “...Nothing has been found documenting the 37 plays and 154 sonnets” (p. 1) that Shakespeare did not do his own work. Everyone believes someone else with more of an education is the mastermind behind the plays and sonnets. Someone like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon, or perhaps a group of people.
The lucidity of his plays and poems provided a clear path for them to stick around for centuries and to even think for one second that shakespeare did not write his poems and plays would be completely daft. It is clear that shakespeare wrote his plays due to the shear number of the holes in the argument that someone else wrote shakespeare’s poems and plays for him. From the thought that he had someone else write them for him even though he was a praised scholar and an avid reader from a young age.
William Shakespeare, by far one of the greatest playwrights of all time, is clouded with controversy. Rumors run rampant that he was nothing more than a non de plume for someone who wished to keep the anonymity of his identity. There have been names such as Edward De Vere the 17th Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon, even Queen Elizabeth herself was among those thought to be the true writer of the plays and poems.
Shakespeare was a playwright from Stratford who had arguably the most influential affect on English literature and the English language. His works are still praised to this day for their divine superiority, however, controversy in exceeding amounts has risen over the dispute of his authorship. This controversy has been the topic of many arguments between differently opinionated scholars who support opposing theories and beliefs (Friedman XV). "A difficult dilemma confronts biographers who tell the story of the glove maker's son from Stratford-on-Avon who is supposed to have become the world's greatest poet and dramatist" (Whalen 3). It may seem odd that this confusion and doubt had come to light in the first place, as the origin of
For many centuries, there has been a controversy over whether or not Shakespeare wrote his plays himself or whether another author wrote the works and gave him the credit. Shakespeare (1564-1616) is recorded to have written 37 plays and 154 sonnets, but the authorship of Shakespeare’s work has been disputed. There is valid reason to believe that Francis Bacon is the genuine author behind Shakespeare’s name. Bacon’s similar high status, numerous travels, and the Baconian theory are valuable reasons that give evidence to Bacon possibly being the author.
While William Shakespeare’s name is written on many famous plays such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and more, did he actually write the plays? The truth is, that there is no solid proof that William Shakespeare was a writer at all, except for his signature scrawled on the manuscripts. Over the years, many people and organizations have claimed that other people have written the plays, such as, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, William Stanley, Edward De Vere and even Queen Elizabeth I. All of these people were good writers, and there is a possibility that one of them wrote Shakespeare, but why would somebody write under a pen name? The answer is, they would not, unless they were hiding something. The only person
For years we have had a question that no one quite knows the answer to. Was the so called Shakespeare really and truly the actual author of the 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems? There has been a dispute between the Oxfordians, who are supporting Edward de Vere, and there are the Stratfordians, who are supporting Shakespeare. Both sides have a lot of evidence to back their positions, but who really wrote the plays, the sonnets and the poems? Three points that support the Oxfordians include Edward de Vere’s life parallels many of Shakespeare’s writings, Edward de Vere traveled to many of the countries or places that were cited in Shakespeare’s work, and Edward de Vere had the knowledge that a person would need in order to write at the level Shakespeare wrote at.
Who was Shakespeare? Was he a man from Stratford-Upon-Avon who started with little and became the greatest English author to ever live; or was he a privileged Earl who was a favorite at Queen Elizabeth’s court? That is the great mystery. This particular mystery is difficult to solve because of the lack of documentary evidence. The Elizabethans did not believe in getting everything in writing as people do today. Therefore, the truth may never be known with certainty. However, evidence does exist to support at least two theories about the Shakespearean authorship: one that the man from Stratford wrote the works, the other that Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford was the author. The question then becomes, which
Hechinger, Paul. "Did Shakespeare Really Write His Plays? A Few Theories Examined." BBC America. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.
Though William Shakespeare is recognized as one of literature's greatest influences, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone. Anecdotes and criticisms by his rivals also speak of the famous playwright and suggest that he was indeed a playwright, poet and an actor.