Shakespeare Authorship Controversy

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.

One cannot write thirty-six plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and two long narrative poems if they were ordinary. But unbelievably, William Shakespeare did just that from 1564 – 1616. People have questioning how Shakespeare achieved writing such great pieces of literature, when the behind the scenes story does not add up. There are no records to prove he wrote anything and there is proof someone else did what he took credit for. In my opinion, Macbeth and Titus Andronicus, two of Shakespeare’s plays are strong examples of pieces of literature that was not actually created by Shakespeare. I believe William Shakespeare, the man with

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).

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.

Among writers and historians, the lack of historical evidence about the life of William Shakespeare has been the main cause of much controversy. Many people doubt that if he was the author of such shocking and transcendental pieces of literature. As a result, the uncertainty that surrounds the authenticity of his persona has increased. Since his childhood, there is no record of Shakespeare attending primary or even university studies. Compared with many other poets and writers his literary training was scarce and his social position was not very favorable to access some kind of help. Many people tend to argue that a man with such a low academic level would be able to possess the rigorous legal, historical and mathematical knowledge that is

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.

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 be or not to be, is a famous question Shakespeare asked his audience in the Hamlet over 200 years ago, yet people are still asking “To be or not to be Shakespeare? That is the real question.” They are like the foolish man believing he is the wise man, going around teaching a false doctrine. They believe that their favorite candidate for Shakespeare is, and always will be Shakespeare. No matter how obvious that there is no way he was ever Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the real Shakespeare because we have no proof for someone else, why wouldn’t they claim it and two of the four head candidates were dead. Shakespeare is 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.

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

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

How do we know that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare? We know because the historical record tells us so, strongly and unequivocally. The historical evidence demonstrates that one and the same man, William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, was William Shakespeare the player, William Shakespeare the Globe-sharer, and William Shakespeare the author of the plays and poems that bear his name -- and no person of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras ever doubted the attribution. No Elizabethan ever suggested that Shakespeare's plays and poems were written by someone else, or that Shakespeare the player was not Shakespeare the author, or that Shakespeare the Globe-sharer was not Shakespeare of Stratford. No contemporary of Shakespeare's ever suggested

plays are too scholarly to have been written by a man without a degree, but that,