1 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. The first theory of Sir Francis Bacon being the true author of Shakespeare came from the author Delia Bacon-no relation. Delia Bacon was a failed novelist and school teacher. In the late 1850’s, she made the general public aware of the Bacon theory through both an essay and book on the subject. Bacon claimed that a comparison of Sir Francis Bacon’s writings with those of Shakespeare proved that Bacon was the true author, as she contended the writing styles were the same. As a result, she did start the Baconian movement, which many people believe to be true. Her book, The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded, was written in 1857, and the preface of the book was written by Nathanial Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s preface never gives support or validation to Bacon’s findings. He ends his preface with the following statement, “It is for the public to say whether my countrywoman has proved her theory. In
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
Galileo and Bacon both illustrate the importance of prioritizing sensory experience over reason in one’s path to knowledge and both criticize traditional forms of philosophical reasoning as insufficient means of reaching scientific conclusions.(Thesis) Bacon states that the best path to gaining accurate and helpful knowledge is to “open up a new and certain path for the mind to follow, starting from sense-perception...the human senses and intellect should not be deprived of their authority but given help” (pages 2, 17). Bacon describes the importance of beginning one’s thought processes through their sensory experiences allows the mind to better analyze and open up your common perceptions. Galileo’s has similar views and demonstrates the importance of obtaining knowledge through one’s senses through his three characters that partake in
The story “lord of the flies’’ by William Golding, the novel correlates to the philosophical views of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. John Locke was an English philosopher that surmised man's natural moral compass would point towards good, Locke's philosophical writings stated “ that individuals in a state of nature would have stronger moral limits on their actions. Essentially, Locke thought that our human nature was characterized by reason and tolerance. People, Locke believed, were basically good’’ ( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2). John Locke thought if people were given no rules they would make a paradise, flourishing in law, order, and structure, Thomas Hobbes believed people were naturally cruel and chaotic, with a need of a strong ruler to make decisions. Hobbes stated, “Who felt that mankind was inherently evil and required a strong central authority to ward off this inclination toward an immoral behavior, Locke believed that human nature allowed men to be selfish’’( Locke and Hobbes Overview 2 ). Thomas Hobbes believed a strong iron-fisted ruler was needed for the safety and well being of a society. The ideals of man in a natural state, follow Thomas Hobbes philosophical view represented through Jack's brutish and monarch like attitude which lead to them living in a dystopian society.
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 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.
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
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.
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
The Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences is one of the most influential works in the history of modern philosophy, and important to the evolution of natural sciences. In this work, Descartes tackles the problem of skepticism. Descartes modified it to account for a truth he found to be incontrovertible. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. Whereas Francis Bacon’s Scientific Method wanted to replace the deductive reasoning by inductive reasoning. The important concept in this reformed
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