Francis Bacon as Shakespeare

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).

Secondly, lots of investigators have stated the talent Shakespeare had. Shakespeare could write a whole play off the top of his head! He had many other talents like acting that he also had. “....Shakespeare...became an actor and writer…” (Background) “....Were about hundred documents relating to William Shakespeare.”(Background) “....230 or so play texts still exist from Shakespeare’s time…”(Background) “....three thousand plays thought to have been staged in london from from Shakespeare’s time.”(Background)Shakespeare was the ideal renaissance

Others also say that there was little evidence left behind about his childhood and later his career as a playwright and poet in London (Goode 9-10). Many scholars that studied Shakespeare?s plays found evidence that whoever wrote the plays must have been the best educated man of his time with knowledge on horsemanship, biology, falconry, astronomy, law, botany, several languages like Italian, French, and Latin, and many other subjects that a common man without much formal education would not poses (Lardner 7).

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 first men brought up to be the credible writer of each work of art was Sir Francis Bacon (Hechinge). It is believed that he wrote the plays due to his level of education and social status (Hechinge). In the article it states, “As a leading figure of the English Renaissance, he certainly had the biography for it: educated at Cambridge, widely traveled, Bacon was a famous philosopher, one of the inventors of the scientific method, who also led a literary society,” and it is know that someone with an education has a better chance at knowing 29,066 different words (Hechinge). Not only was it believed because of his higher education, but many people believed they found secret messages in Shakespeare’s plays that pointed to Sir Francis Bacon being the writer (Hechinge). A man named Dr. Isaac Platt found out that by extracting certain letters from this line in Hamlet, “"The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables,” ended up with an anagram of “FR. BACONI NATI,” which according to Latin, means that Francis Bacon was the true playwright (Wheeler)

The large body of work attributed to William Shakespeare shows education, experience, creativity, and wisdom far beyond what many people are willing to accept came from a single author. Due to the scarcity of facts surrounding Shakespeare’s life, speculation arouse about whether or not he actually wrote his works became more common. In the mid-1800s ideas about other authors were brought forward. However, these theories have little sustenance, and it is likely that the entire body of work attributed to Shakespeare in fact belonged to Shakespeare himself.

      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

To begin with, examine Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon is a man of great importance back in the 16th and 17th century. He was famous for his authorship much like Shakespeare. Fortunately, no one thought of him to be the type to spend his time writing useless poetry. He was more well known for his writing screenplays. Edmondson and Wells (2013) explain, “While Bacon may have penned court entertainments, he was never suspected of wasting time in writing poetry, and is not known to have written a single blank verse in all his life.”(p. 21) With that statement alone, the Bacon theory should be dismissed. If no one knew of him writing poetry, then there is no way he could have whipped out 154 sonnets when he was already famous. If this does not prove anything, we can examine both Shakespeare’s and Bacon’s styles of writing. Bacon did not write about nature and animals. In fact, he did not like to write about those things. In contrast, Shakespeare’s favorite thing to write about was nature and animals. Bacon was Shakespeare’s opposite, in a sense.

Stating that shakespeare's works were written by the Earl of Oxford due to the fact that according to the “anti-Stratfordians (as the authorship doubters are sometimes called)” he was brought up in too poor of a family, Shakespeare

To start from the beginning of the controversy, the earliest actual documentation of such findings began in 1785 by an oxford scholar named James Wilmot. It was here that when James came up “empty-handed” of any evidence of Shakespeare’s plays did he come to the conclusion that it had to have been someone else and that someone was Sir Francis Bacon. James however never reported anything and on his deathbed actually destroyed his writings, but not before telling a fellow scholar, James Corton Cowell, his findings. Cowell would leave and make a presentation to the Ipswich Philosophic Society, and so began the greatest mystery of whether William Shakespeare was a famous playwright or a fraud taking credit for the work of someone else.

There are a variety of theories that suggest that Sir Francis Bacon was, in fact, William Shakespeare. Supporters of these claims refer to Shakespeare’s writing style, lack of education, and reportedly hidden messages within his texts as some of the evidence that indicates that Bacon was the real author of the many plays and poems attributed to Shakespeare. However, these assertions do not conclusively substantiate the Bacon theory and only attempt to discredit the real William Shakespeare. Therefore, Sir Francis Bacon did not write as William Shakespeare.

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

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