The works of Shakespeare are some of the most respected in English literature. They have set the standard for all the great writers who followed. Although these works have been attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford, they could have been written by anyone. The definite authorship of a work is always uncertain, but these works are particularly contested. There are those who believe someone besides Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the works, while others believe his identity, as a whole, is a conspiracy. Clearly the author of a work is important, but some wonder if knowing the author’s identity is really worth all the fuss. The works of Shakespeare will still reign at the top of English literature no matter who wrote them. Therefore, …show more content…
A will from Shakespeare of Stratford has his signature at the bottom, but this will does not leave his plays to anybody. There are a few signatures from a Shakespeare on documentation from different contracts for actors and such. However, all of these signatures spell their name differently than William Shakespeare does on his will. These documents from the plays also have the signature of two men mentioned in Shakespeare of Stratford’s will. This would appear to be factual evidence linking the plays to him, except for one slight issue. These men’s names are scribbled in-between two lines and appear to have been added after the original will was written. Did someone add these names to give credence to William Shakespeare’s authorship? Or did William Shakespeare himself simply add them at a later date? It is questions like these that place doubt on Shakespeare of Stratford’s authorship of these works. (Bedford Companion, Chapter 1)
There are of course other sources of information that seem to support William Shakespeare of Stratford as the true author. For instance, James Shapiro, an English professor at Columbia University, and avid supporter of Shakespeare from Stratford, has spent years trying to figure out who really authored the Shakespearean works. He eventually came across some evidence that helped his case. One of his main arguments was that until about two hundred years after William
Throughout twelve different plays, Shakespeare has twelve different signatures (Ten reasons). In addition writing from the heart. Shakespeare pour’s his heart out throughout his sonnets, but never once mentions the death of his eleven year old son, whereas Ben Johnson wrote an amazing and beautiful poem when his son died (Ten reasons). This suggests the man who is writing these plays is not the real Shakespeare because he never mentioned his son’s tragic death in his work and had inconsistent handwriting.
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).
William Shakspere was born in Stratford-upon Avon in 1564 and died in 1616 at the age of 52. In the mid-19th century, questions had arisen about the Shakespeare authorship controversy, and many scholars wondered whether Shakspere, the man from Stratford, wrote the plays. Ralph W. Emerson once said, ?I can not ?marry? Shakspere?s life to Shakespeare?s work? (qtd. in Bethell 48). In many ways, he was right, some things just did not link up. Many people started noticing this thus two opposing sides were formed. Those who believed
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.
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
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, all these well-known plays have one characteristic in common. They were all well written by William Shakespeare, or were they? Today many scholars doubt the authorship of William Shakespeare. With this doubt, many other problems about William Shakespeare begin to arise. The question of Shakespeare’s authorship initiates controversy about whether or not William Shakespeare wrote the famous works by “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.
The William Shaksper born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 was given the credit of Shakespeare’s work seven years after his death. William lived in a small town where there were few educated men. (James/Rubinstein 1) His parents were
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
Shahan, John M. Shakespeare beyond Doubt?: Exposing an Industry in Denial. Tamarac, FL: Llumina, 2013. Print.