The ancient writer Sophocles once said, "Fail with honor than succeed by fraud." A fraud is a disgraceful, gut wrenching title that can absolutely destroy an author’s reputation, and it is considerably interesting to realize that one of the world’s greatest playwrights, William Shakespeare, is accused of being some kind of fraud (Or at least not who we think he is). If Shakespeare was a fraud, he certainly succeeded, making himself one of the most known names in the history of literature. Across the globe, there is a heated debate whether or not Shakespeare was even the true or original author of all of the work he is claimed for. The Oxfordians, represented by Keir Cutler in "Just Exactly Who Was The REAL Shakespeare?", believe that Shakespeare never wrote all of the literature he was claimed to have written. On the other hand, the Stratfordians, represented by Alex Knapp in "Yes, Shakespeare Really Did Write Shakespeare", obviously believe that Shakespeare was the original writer and disregard theories made by the Oxfordians. While both sides have convincing evidence to defend themselves, the valid proof and powerful evidence defensively used by the Stratfordians help prove that the great William Shakespeare was, in fact, not a fraud.
To start off, William Shakespeare worked with numerous Elizabethan authors in the making of at least ten of his plays. The joint effort of numerous common playwrights was used in Henry VI, Part One, Titus Andronicus, and Two Noble Kinsmen.
The Shakespeare Authorship Question has been around for many years. There is a lot of suspected author components in who actually wrote the works but, a few debaters have tried to prove that Shakespeare was the original author therefore, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy can be argued that William is not the correct author based on evidence that no documents reveal any qualities of education from Shakespeare; nobody had any type of dramatic reaction to his death in 1616, and Shakespeare’s disputed will mentions nothing specific or anything noteworthy. Few facts and records are known about William and his life. There is no evidence that he had the correct skills to hold such an impacted title.
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.
In addition to the contribution of establishing Shakespeare’s authorship, Pavier and Jaggard largely protected Shakespeare’s manuscripts and presented more authentic works of Shakespeare by referring widely to the resources they could get assessed. Their method of editing could be considered as “critical editing”, which aims to represent the author’s final intention by comparative analysis of multiple texts(Evenden, 2016, p.54-55). Most of the Folio text, according to Jowett(2007), involve a more complicated cross- fertilization, which means the Folio texts must have absorbed various copies of previous quartos and theatrical manuscript to include longer passages(p. 77). The more complicated work of the printers, the direct or indirect referring
William Shakespeare, the renowned poet credited with writing 37 plays and 154 sonnets symbolizes brilliance in literature. The playwright's legendary plots and characters along with his portrayal of love proves him to be one of the greatest poet of all time. Despite the authors profound successes, the authenticity of Shakespeare's writing is a mysterious conspiracy. A missing paper trail, similarities found in works of Shakespeare’s and his contemporaries, and an unsettling exhibit question the Bard’s credibility. There remains an ongoing debate between Shakespeare’s devoted admirers and anti-Stratfordians, who unambiguously believe Shakespeare is a fraud due to lack of documentation, similarities between Shakespeare’s works and his enemies,
These believers cite important counter arguments supporting William Shakespeare as the true author. For instance, “No Elizabethan documents support the claim that Shakespeare's plays and poems were written by someone else, or that the actor Shakespeare was not the author Shakespeare.” (shakespeare-online.com) Clearly, the evidence doubting Shakespeare’s authorship has no clear backing emanating from the Elizabethan period when Shakespeare was alive rather it was a theory started well after Shakespeare’s passing. A more specific counter argument concentrates on the number one alternate to William Shakespeare Edward De Vere 17th Earl of Oxford. In examining, the historical data, the dates do not support the theory that the Earl of Oxford wrote all of Shakespeare’s work. “Oxford died in 1604, and significant evidence indicates that some of Shakespeare's work was produced years later. (For instance, The Tempest was influenced by a voyage to the Americas that did not occur until 1610).” (news.psu.edu). This is convincing evidence that the Earl of Oxford did not write all of Shakespeare since the Earl of Oxford’s death predates many references seen in Shakespearean
The Shakespeare name is known by almost everyone. The true identity of the great writer is still a mystery. There isn’t a single picture to portray the true identity of Shakespeare. When you look at the pictures they are different and resemble someone else. We know that he was a well educated business man, knowledgeable in the law and Royalty just for starters. The man credited with the works doesn’t poses these qualities. Over the years, more people ask the same question, who was the true Shakespeare?
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
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.
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.
Many Elizabethan bedsides were haunted from “the terrors of the night”. Back then their ghosts were nothing like the pasty blobs we call ghosts now. Theirs were quite gruesome. Ghostly visitations were claimed to have been very unpleasant. Not only this, but they claimed it cast them into a state of spiritual confusion.
The question of the authorship of Shakespeare’s writings has been a highly debated topic for centuries. The main reason for the doubt of Shakespeare’s authorship, is the shear extensiveness of his work. Many doubt that one man could have written so much on his own; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, 5 poems. It is believed that either his plays were either a collaboration, or were simply not written by Shakespeare at all.
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 real though he was not just one person, but a group of different writers. There have been other theories that state that Shakespeare was a penname for another writer. The theory that Shakespeare was not a person, but a group of men was first posed by the New York lawyer and journalist named Joseph C Hart in 1848. In Hart’s book, The Romance of Yachting, he asks, “the enquiry will be, who were the able literary men who wrote the dramas imputed to him?” (Hart). Hart believed in this theory, but he did not dig deeper to find out more about who the group was. In contrast, the woman named Delia Bacon wrote an article supporting the same theory. Bacon discusses in depth how she thinks the group of men are prophets of republican America.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch plummeted six feet of rain on Central America in 3 days. In its wake, the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, cholera, and leptospirosis soared. In 2000, rain and three cyclones inundated Mozambique for six weeks, and the incidence of malaria rose fivefold. In 2003, a summer heat wave in Europe killed tens of thousands of people, wilted crops, set forests ablaze, and melted 10 percent of the Alpine glacial mass.
Lastly, The director of Anonymous states that there are no educational records or any other records connecting to Shakespeare. It is nearly impossible to gain the amount of knowledge Shakespeare had with out going to school. There are no records to prove that Shakespeare ever attended the Stratford grammar school, yet the work of who really wrote these plays shows extensive knowledge about medicine, astronomy, art, music, military, law, philosophy, and activities such as royal tennis and falconry (Ten reason). It is unbelievable for one to know all that without even a trace of school. This suggests that some one else wrote the plays because Shakespeare does not have the education and knowledge to do so. Likewise, it is strange how one knows so much about foreign countries without ever leaving their country. Shakespeare’s records show that he has never left