 William
Shakespeare, the most celebrated
poet in the English language, left behind
nearly a million words of text, but his
biography has long been a thicket of wild
supposition arranged around scant facts.
 With
a steady hand and his trademark wit,
Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle
to reveal the man himself.
 Bryson
documents the efforts of earlier
scholars, from academics to eccentrics.
Imitating the style of his famous lectures,
Bryson records episodes in his research,
including a visit to a bunker-like basement
room in Washington, D.C., where the world's
largest collection of First Folios is housed.
 Bryson
celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of
unimaginable talent and enormous
inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish
into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell
swoop") that even today have common
currency.
 His
Shakespeare is like no one else's—the
recipient of Bryson's friendly nature, his
engaging disbelief, and a gift for storytelling
unrivaled in our time.
 What
 What
is theme?
is the theme of this excerpt from As
You Like It?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Infancy: In this stage he is a helpless baby and knows little.
Childhood: It is that stage of life that he begins to go to school. He is
unwilling to leave the protected environment of his home as he is still not
confident enough to exercise his own discretion.
The lover: In this stage he is always remorseful due to some reason or
other, especially the loss of love. He tries to express feelings through song
or some other cultural activity.
The soldier: It is in this age that he thinks less of himself and begins to
think more of others. He is very easily aroused and is hot headed. He is
always working towards making a reputation for himself and gaining
recognition, however short-lived it may be, even at the cost of his own life.
The justice: In this stage he has acquired wisdom through the many
experiences he has had in life. He has reached a stage where he has gained
prosperity and social status. He becomes very attentive of his looks and
begins to enjoy the finer things of life.
Pantaloon: He begins to lose his charm — both physical and mental. He
begins to become object of others’ jokes. He loses his firmness and
assertiveness, and shrinks in stature and personality.
Childishness: He loses his status and he becomes a non-entity. He becomes
dependent on others like a child and is in need of constant support before
finally dying.
Chapter One
 Images:



Chandros portrait was found in an estate auction
and most believed to be Shakespeare, but does
not have any documentation to prove, so it could
be someone completely different
Droshout engraving: was probably a distorted
image of SP and was done 7 years after his
death.
Holy Trinity Church statue: painted over and lost
features, so not a great depiction either.
Chapter One
 Records:




Scarce records were kept during this time period.
Only 100 documents have been found about his
family.
Only 14 words are believed to be written in his
own hand.
The variants in letter formations, spellings, and
pronunciations make it difficult to decipher
through the records.
Belott-Mountjoy Papers
 Charles
and Hulda Wallace moved from USA
to England to spend their lives researching
information about SP.
 Discovered the Belott-Mountjoy papers ~ a
court case involving a dispute b/t a
wigmaker and his son-in-law about a
marriage settlement.
 SP had to provide testimony in this case.
 Provided the best WP signature and a valid
address.
 Also the only known document to contain a
transcript speaking in his own voice.
Wallace’s cont.
 The
Wallaces also found information about
his financial records for The Globe and
Blackfriar theaters.
 Interesting to note that Charles Wallace
increasingly became a little crazy, talking
about himself in 3rd person and becoming
paranoid, causing ppl to take him less
seriously.
 They moved back to Texas and invested in
land, which contained a large amount of oil,
and became rich!
Shakespeare researchers
 Only




have three ways to report information:
By thorough research like the Wallace’s
By speculation based on his works
Or persuade themselves that they know more
than they really do.
Most important to remember is that there
is NOTHING concrete that gives us insight
into SP’s feelings, thoughts, or beliefs as a
man. The only thing we have are the
works that have come from him.
Other Authors
 We
also know surprisingly less about other
authors and their works during that time
period as well.
 We are lucky to have SP’s works, bound in
the First Folio, a collection of his work, done
by Henry Condell and John Heminges.
 Only 230 text from plays during that time
still exist, with 38 or 15% being from SP
himself.
Interesting Facts
 What

we do know:
His works contain:









Over 138K commas
26K semicolons
15K ? Marks
Love references: 2,259
Hate references: 183
Damned: 105 times
Bloody: 226 times
Total Word Count: 884,647
NOT SO MUCH A HISTORICAL FIGURE, BUT AN ACADEMIC
OBSESSION.
Chapter Two: 1564-1585
 The
plagues: Also called “Black Death,” the
Bubonic Plagues took almost a ¼ of London’s
citizens.
 Other health problems also threatened ppl’s
lives, as healthcare was scarce, especially in
rural areas.
 SP’s greatest achievement in life = surviving
his 1st year.
Birth
 Not
certain, but traditionally celebrated on
April 23rd, St. George’s Day (The National Day
of England).
 Also believed to be the day he died.
 Baptized on April 26th.
 Record keeping was sparse at this time in
Stratford as well.
 Although none of this is certain b/c of the
discrepancies in calendars at that time.
Religion
 16th
century: England changed from Catholic
society to a Protestant one, based on the
changes in the monarchy.





Edward Vi: Protestant
Mary Tudor (Elizabeth’s ½ sister): Catholic
Elizabeth: Return to Protestantism
Under Mary, many burned at the stake for refusal
to convert.
Under Elizabeth’s reign (45 years), less than 200
Catholics were executed vs. 1000’s elsewhere in
Europe.
Queen Elizabeth



Took England when she was 25 years old.
Reigned for 45 years.
Catholics believed she was an outlaw:
 Her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots was Catholic and
would be next in line to the throne.
 Elizabeth was guarded closely to protect her life.
Issue of succession was huge during her reign, as
well through the majority of SP’s life.
 ¼ of SP’s plays contain issues of succession, which
his audience would relate to well.
 Actually speculating about the successor, however,
was against the law.

Queen Elizabeth
 Fairly
relaxed Protestant.
 Favored many customary Catholic traditions.
 She was not as concerned about loyalty to
religion, but more so with loyalty to herself.
 BEING Catholic wasn’t particularly
troublesome in Elizabethan England, but
being PUBLICLY Catholic was.
Catholicism
 Catholics
who didn’t attend Anglican services
paid a fine. Known as “recusants,” meaning
“refusing”
 In 1581, fines were only 12 pence/month
 Raised to 20/month
 Provided a lucrative source of income for the
crown.
 Most ppl were “church Papists” ~ supporting
whichever religion was needed based on the
circumstances.
Protestantism
Chapter Three (The Lost Years)
 1585-1592
 London
in the 16th century was both deadly
and desirable.
 Plague occurred every 10 years ~ each time
the death toll reached 40, all public
gatherings were banned within 7 miles of
London.
 Even though there were many deaths, the
influx of merchants and refugees kept the
city growing, making London one of the
largest cities in Europe
Chapter Three
 Overwhelmingly
a youthful place, as most ppl
didn’t live past age 35
 City divided into parishes with a church in
each one
 London itself was surrounded by slums
 Westminster was the seat of government
The
largest and busiest palace in Europe
Headquartered the Engish monarch
Westminster Abbey
Chapter Three
 City





Life:
Narrow streets, close houses, rich and poor lived
close together
Gates were locked at dusk, with curfew at dark
London Bridge: Went over the Thames River,
which stretched 1,000 feet wide in some places
Bridge was a respectable place, had more than a
hundred shops, considered the cleanest place in
the city, and became an outpost of wealthy
merchants.
The Southwark end of the bridge displayed heads
of the most serious criminals on poles
London Bridge (16th Century)
Chapter Three
 St.



Paul’s Cathedral:
Stood in an open square covering 12 acres
Filled with stalls of booksellers, marketers, etc.
Inside: noisier and more public. Merchants used
it to sell their stuff




drunks were passed out, relieving themselves in
corners,
Some built small fires to keep warm
boys played ball, etc.
Used as a cut-through for staying out of the weather
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Chapter Three
Fashion: Starch was introduced and used to make
exotic ruffles, pleats, gowns, etc.
 Skin: rich women bleached their skin to look paler, a
sign of supreme loveliness.
 Diet: Rich people dined on foods uneaten today, like
crane, swan, and stork. Poorer ppl ate mainly dark
bread and cheese and vegetables. Tea and coffee were
unknown, but all ppl enjoyed sweets ~ using sugar so
much that their teeth turned black (or they colored
them black to fit in)
 Drinks: Common to consume over a gallon of beer a
day (dark english ale) and the wealthier also got wine.
 Tobacco: used for pleasure and as a treatment for all
kinds of different stuff, including venereal disease,
migraine, bad breath, and the plague

Chapter Three
 Crime:
very widespread. All different types
of specializations, including:







Coney catchers
Pickpockets
Cutpurses
Hookers
Abtams
whipjacks
fingerers, etc.
 Brawls
were so common that even poets
carried arms.
Chapter Three
 Unknown
when Shakespeare first came to
London
 Disappears from 1585 to 1592, when he left
Stratford and his family to become a
playwright
 Suggestions:




He was a schoolmaster in the country
Traveling in Italy
As a soldier in Flanders
Going to sea
Chapter Three


Most believed: went to Northern England as a
Catholic recusant, as a tutor and actor.
Was he Catholic?
 During this time, there was a vast, underground
network of underground Catholic conversions
 A “William Shakeshafte” was listed listed in the
household accounts of a prominent Catholic family
 But Shakeshafte was a common name at the time,
and it could have been anyone
 Also during this time is when he would have married
and had his first child in Stratford, so why would he
have been in Lancashire, hiding out as a Catholic?
Chapter Three
 Spanish
Armada: 1586, Mary Queen of Scots
was found guilty for plotting to overthrow
Queen Elizabeth, so she was killed. The
following spring, Spain tried to retailiate by
capturing the English throne and replacing
Elizabeth.
 Spain expected a confident victory, but
England prevailed, in three short weeks.
 Changed history


Induced a rush of patriotism for England, giving
them confidence to form USA
Secured Protestantism for England.
Chapter Four
 Three
different depictions of the Globe
Theater exist:



1596: Sketch of the “Swan” theater by Dutch
tourist Johannes de Witt, housed in the library of
the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands,
believed to be the inspiration for the Gloe
1626: Artist Claes Jan Visscher ~ famous
engraved panorama of London, showing the
theaters in the foreground, he may have never
been to London, but based the engraving on
another.
1630’s Wenceslas Hollar drew the “Long View,”
depicting the second Globe Theater from a view
above, but offers little details.
Chapter Four
 Know
very little about theater by writing
either ~ mostly from letters written by
London tourists.
 Philip Henslowe ~ owner of the Rose and
Fortune theaters. Kept meticulous records in
his “diary,” helping us to understand more
about theater life and providing ‘specs’ when
rebuilding the Globe.
 Theaters as entertainment were a new
phenomenon in England, with the Red Lion,
the Theatre, and the Curtain Theatre.
Chapter Four
 Theaters
had to live outside of London’s
walls, along with brothels, prisons,
gunpowder stores, unconsecrated
graveyards, lunatic asylums, and smelly or
noisy enterprises, like soapmaking, dyeing,
and tanning.
 Theaters also housed other forms of
entertainment, including animal baiting.
 Puritans hated the theaters, even blaming a
rare earthquake on them.
Chapter Four
 Puritans
considered them an ideal place for
prostitution, shady characters, infectious
diseases, a distraction from worship, sodomy,
and a source of unhealthy sexual excitement.
(Bryson notes that the Puritans would rather
move to the New World than become tolerant of
London life!)
 Queen
Elizabeth refused to limit theater
life, even on Sundays, as they received
heavy revenues from taxation.
Chapter Four
 But,
plays were strictly regulated. All plays
were licensed and made to perform
respectful and orderly. Could be jailed and
punished.
 Plays were performed at about 2:00 in the
afternoon.
 General admission for the groundlings was a
penny.
 Sitting = 2 pennies
 Cushion = 3 pennies
 (a day’s wages = 1 shilling)
Chapter Four
 Concessions
were available but toilets were
not.
 Little scenery and no curtain, no way to
distinguish day/night, fog, etc. except
through words.
 Costumes were elaborate and much valued
 Used sheep’s blood, organs, etc. and
sometimes artificial limbs were used.
 Almost all ended in a “jig”
Chapter Four
 More
natural acting styles and settings.
 Plays were of varying lengths (Hamlet nearly
4 hours)
 Challenge of using boys to play women parts
 Other countries used women in plays
 Golden Age of theater lasted @ 75 years, but
attracted over 50 million customers (10x the
country’s population).
 Most performed at least 5 different plays a
week, rotating throughout the year.
Chapter Four
 Playwrights
made very little $$, and plays
belonged to the company, not the
playwright.
 Many actors had to double up parts,
performing multiple parts in each play
 Rigorous contractual obligations, with
penalties for missing, tardiness, drunkenness,
not being in costume, or wearing costumes
outside of the play.
 Shakespeare was listed as an actor in 1592,
1603, and 1608.
Chapter Four
 Some
believe SP’s first performed work was
Henry VI, but it’s not for certain.
 First official mention of him is in a note in a
pamphlet by Robert Greene, who was jealous
of Shakespeare
 Then the theaters had to close b/c of a
Plague outbreak, and then SP disappears for
two more years.
 Where was he?

Traveling in Italy?
Chapter Four
 SP
made a flowing dedication to Henry
Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, who was
considered to be bi-sexual, in two of his
works.
 Unknown whether SP was courting him
personally or for his patronage to his plays.
 By 1594, SP was a success, authoring two
poems and having the patronage of a leading
aristocrat.
 But, he returned exclusively to theater from
then on out.
Chapter Four
 Christopher
Marlowe: SP’s greatest
competitor





Son of a shoemaker in Canterbury
Went to Cambridge (on scholarship), had
elevated status
The government went on a witch-hunt to find the
source of anti-immigrant notices in London.
Under torture, Marlowe’s roommate accused him
of being a blasphemer and atheist, very serious
charges.
Marlowe was brought before the Privy Council,
questioned and released on bond.
Chapter Four
 Christopher





Marlowe:
Best scenario: getting ears cut off
Later, involved in a brawl and was stabbed in the
forehead, being killed outright, and was dead at
29.
At that time, Marlowe was considered the better
writer, but too quickly violent and erratic in
temperament.
More likely, SP was more promising for long-term
success.
SP had no serious rivals again until Ben Jonson
came along in 1598
Chapter Four
 Eventually,
the plague was too much to bear,
so many companies disbanded.
 1594, only two troups remained: The
Admiral’s Men and the Lord Chamberlain’s
Men
 SP spent the rest of his life working with this
troupe
 Most members led clean lives, behaving like
business and family men.
Chapter Five
 No
one knows which of SP’s plays were
performed first ~ 8 different works are cited.
 Some base their conclusions on the events
going on in England during that time period,
some believe the style of writing tells the
order of composition, but no one really
knows.
 Book by Francis Meres “Paladis Tamia: Wit’s
Treasury” was published in 1598 and
mentions SP’s works and provides the first
published mention of four of SP’s plays.
Chapter Five
SP’s



plays were known by other names:
Twelfth Night = Malvolio
Much Ado About Nothing = Benedick and Beatrice
Some believed Love’s Labour Won was an
alternative for Taming of the Shrew, but in 1953,
it as discovered that these two plays both
existed together, but Love’s Labour was not
included in the First Folio
Chapter Five
 By
1598, he was a notable playwright with a
successful reputation.
 Known to steal plots, dialogue, names, titles,
etc.
 “SP was a wonderful teller of stories as long
as someone else had told them first.” ~
Bernard Shaw
 Very common of writers at that time.
 He was known of taking common work and
embellishing them to make them more
memorable
Chapter Five

Rules of presentation were stretched in order to get
plays out to the audiences. For example: tragedies
were not supposed to contain any humor, no soliquys
or asides, etc.

SP’s genius was that he created comedic relief, and
audience interaction, things that make him
“SHAKESPEARE” to us today.

Most were rigid in conforming to Aristotle’s three
principles of dramatic presentation ~ dramas should
take place in one day, in one place, and have one
plot. Most of SP’s greatest works abandon this form
(ex: Macbeth)
Chapter Five
 SP
was considered to be very controversial at
the time: he killed off title characters in the
middle of the play (Julius Ceasar), having
main characters speak almost 1,500 lines
(Hamlet), and teasing reality by addressing
the audience.
 SP wasn’t the most prolific writer (not that
many plays written as other playwrights)
 Plays contained unclear references and very
subject to interpretation, and lack
punctuation, correct grammar, spelling
Chapter Five
 Some
believe he was as knowledgeable as
any lawyer, doctor, statesman, astronomer,
etc.
 More likely, he was just average. Knew some
French, more Italian, and showed interest in
medicine, law, military affairs, and natural
history.
 Guilty of Anatopisms: getting geography
wrong and Anachronisms: errors in
timeframe.
Chapter Five



SP’s genius has less to do with facts and more about
things of life: ambition, intrigue, love, suffering,
etc.
Size of vocabulary: he may not have had that
extensive of a vocabulary, but what he did with them
was history changing.
“It is often said that what sets SP apart is his ability
to illuminate the workings of the soul and so on, and
he does that superbly, goodness knows, but what he
really characterizes his work – every bit of it, in
poems and plays and even dedications ~ is a positive
and palpable appreciation of the transfixing power of
language.” (pg. 110)
Chapter Five
 12,000
words entered the English language in
the 16th century (about ½ are still in use
today).
 Grammar, pronunciation, and spelling were
fluent and variable.
 Some turns are “lost in translation” through
the centuries
 Other playwrights used crude terms (I fart on
Thee), but SP was very clean.
 SP’s language was considered modern
Chapter Five
 He
coined 2,035 words from the beginning of
his career.
 Ex: Hamlet contained 600 words that the
audience would have never heard before.
 About 800 are still used today
 “SP’s language has a quality, difficult to
define, of memorability that has caused
many phrases to enter the common
language.” Stanley Wells
 Oxford Dictionary of Quotations states SP
produced 1/10 of all the most quotable
phrases written or spoken in English since its
inception.
Chapter Five
 Latin
was still the common language of the
day.
 “It is telling,” observes Stanley Wells, “that
William Shakespeare’s birth is recorded in
Latin but that he dies in English, as ‘William
Shakespeare, gentleman.’”
Chapter Six (Years of Fame)
 While
the 16th century is known as “The
Golden Years,” not everyone thought of them
that way.
 Plague, wars, famine, etc. had taken a toll
on the economy
 1597 ~ known as “the worst year in history”
 How did The Theater thrive during this time?
 SP’s own personal tragedy: 1596, his son,
Hamnet, died of unknown causes in Stratford
 Professionally: Increasing fame and
professional good fortune
Chapter Six
 SP
must have been quite well-off during this
time, buying a new home in Stratford and
applying for a “coat of arms” for his family.
 Most of his income came from his shares in
the theatrical company.
 No matter how well off, he continued to be
cheap, being convicted in London for evading
taxes two years in a row.
 Still spent a good amount of time in Stratford
as well, keeping financial records there.
Chapter Six
 His
highest wealth = uncertainty for his
theater company, The Lord Chamberlain’s
Men.
 1597 James Burbage died at the age of 67.
He was one of the principal investors of the
company.
 His son tried to renew the Theater lease, but
couldn’t get anywhere with the landlord, so
on Dec. 28th, 1598, The Lord Chamberlain’s
men began to dismantle the Theatre and
convey it across the Thames River, where
they reerected it overnight (allegedly)
Chapter Six
 It
actually took more than one night
(probably more like 6 months)
 Called “The New Globe”
 Sometimes referred to as a theatre built by
actors for actors
 Built exclusively for plays ~ took no earnings
from animal fighting, etc.
 First mention of “The Globe” comes from a
Swiss tourist named Thomas Platter, noting
he saw a production of Julius Caesar at The
Globe
Chapter Six
 Outshone
it’s competitor, The Rose, which
was “dank” and “uncomfortable” which was
owned by The Admiral’s Men.
 They moved and built The Fortune Theatre,
which was even bigger than The Globe.
 Burned down in 1621.
 Globe burned down in 1613, but “had seen
more glory in only a decade than the Globe
during its first manifestation. For SP this
period marked a burst of creative brilliance
unparalleled in English literature.
Chapter Six
 Even
though he had continued success in
London, his private life indicated a longing
for Stratford.
 First he bought New Place, followed by a
cottage and a plot of land to house a
servant. Then he bought 107 acres of
farmland, and then he invested in tithes of
corn, grain, blade, and hay in three
neighboring villages.
Chapter Six





Early winter 1601, SP was involved in an attempt to
overthrow the queen.
The Queen was furious with the Earl of Essex for
offering a truce with Irish insurgents and returning to
England against orders. She placed him under strict
house arrest, unable to see his wife or kids, work,
etc. for ½ year.
He approached SP’s company to do Richard II,
including a scene involving a monarch being
murdered
This was scandalous b/c plays at that time were
mirrors reflecting present conditions
Seen as intentional and very provocative
Chapter Six
 They
performed the play and the next day
the Earl of Essex and 300 men planned to
arrest the queen, replacing her with James
VI of Scotland. No one supported him, so
there was no mob behind them, and no hope
for victory.
 Eventually, Essex was arrested and The Lord
Chamberlain’s Men were cleared of charges
of conspiracy.
 He was beheaded and the troupe was
summoned to perform another play for the
Queen.
Chapter Seven
 By
1603, Queen Elizabeth had become a little
too odd. Her face was permanently caked in
white makeup, her teeth were blackened or
missing, and she continuously left her dress
unbuttoned, exposing herself to everyone.
 After SP’s troupe performed for her, Queen E
died on March 24 at age 69.
 She was succeeded by King James (son of
Mary, Queen of Scots)
 In Scotland, he was James VI, but in England,
he was James I. He was devotedly
Protestant.
Chapter Seven
 King
James was awkward, walked with a
limp, wore raggedy clothes, and was more
than a little odd.
 He may have had relationships with men, but
also had 8 kids with his wife, King Anne.
 He was a great patron of the theater as well.
 He renamed SP’s troupe from “The Lord
Chamberlain’s Men” to “The King’s Men” ~
the highest honor given to an acting troupe
Chapter Seven
 SP’s
greatest output was not during the
Elizabethan period, but was really during the
“Jacobean” period, under King James.






Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Timon of Athens
Chapter Seven
 King
James presided over the production of
“The King James Bible”



It took a panel of hierarchs seven years from
1604 to 1611 to complete
King James took a leading interest in the creation
Helped an influential role in encouraging a
conformity of spelling and grammar in England
and the new America
Chapter Seven





By the reign of King James, very few Britians were
Catholic. (only @ 2% of the population)
In 1604, King James suspended recusancy laws and
allowed Mass to be said in private homes.
The Powder Treason: A scheme was made when a
group of Catholics delivered 36 barrels of gunpowder
(10,000 lbs) in the cellar of the Palace
The monarchy was alerted and Catholics were
punished.
 Barred from key professions
 Not permitted to travel more than 5 miles from home
 Had to wear big hats to be easily identified
 Recusancy fines were reinstated
Catholics were no longer a threat, but the Puritans
would be.
Chapter Seven
 SP
was increasingly wealthy but lived very
frugally, tax records showing his personal
property was less than 5 pounds
 Charles and Hulda Wallace discovered that SP
was living with Christopher Mountjoy during
this time
 Stanley Wells believes that SP might have
returned to Stratford during this time to
write as well.
 Not much known about SP personally from
1603 to 1608, except his brother and then his
mother both died.
Chapter Seven
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
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
During that year, The King’s Men opened the
Blackfriars Theater, which became the template for
all the other indoor theaters, making it more
important than The Globe.
Only held 600 ppl but more profitable than the Globe
b/c the cost of admission was high
SP owned 1/6 interest of that theater.
Candlelight was used
Audience could pay extra to sit on the stage, allowing
them to show off their luxurious threads
Blackfriar caused The Globe to close for winter.
Chapter Seven
 Sonnets:
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On May 20th, 1609 Thomas Thorpe published and
sold “Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Never Before
Imprinted”
We know nothing about the sonnets: where they
were written, who they were written for, etc.
Contain some of his most celebrated lines
“Shall I compare Thee to a summer’s day”
Unusual b/c they were actually written for a
man!
Not very popular until centuries later
Chapter Seven
 Sonnets
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


are divided into two parts:
1-126 addresses a young man (or even men)
127-154 addresses a “dark lady” who cheated on
him with that guy above
Sonnets were normally full of love, but these are
focused on self-hate and bitterness
Many were erotic, which were controversial bc
homosexuality wasn’t approved of at the time
Chapter Seven
 Don’t
know when the sonnets were actually
written, but were used in Love’s Labour and
Romeo and Juliet, so somewhere @ 1590’s
 Don’t know that the first 126 are definitely
addressed to the same young man, or if in
every situation, it is a man at all. Also don’t
know the identity of the “dark woman”
 Most just connect them because of the way
they are numbered, but that doesn’t prove
anything
Chapter Seven
 Shakespeare’s
preference for men, women,
or both has caused much trouble and
discomfort in the literary world.
 One editor of the sonnets made all of the
masculine pronouns feminine
 Stanley Wells, “If Shakespeare did not, in the
fullest sense of the word, love a man, he
certainly understood the feelings of those
who do.”
Chapter Seven
 In
later years, SP was known to collaborate
with other playwrights in several of his
works.
 Stanley Wells, “SP became a different kind of
writer as he got older, still brilliant but more
challenging. His language became more
dense and elliptical. He became less
inclined to consider the needs of the
traditional audience. The plays became less
theatrical and more introverted. He was
perhaps out of fashion in his last years.”
Chapter Seven
 Probably
didn’t write anything after the
Globe burned down in 1613, but did make
trips to London.
 Bought an investment house in Blackfriars for
140 pounds. Asked three colleagues to be
trustees, keeping it from going to his wife,
Anne, upon his death. Why would he do this?
It’s anyone’s guess!
Chapter 8 ~ DEATH
 March
1616 ~ SP made some changes to his
will.
 He asked for 5 witnesses instead of the usual
2.
 Scandal: His daughter Judith married a guy
named Thomas Quiney. She was 31 years old
(OLD MAID!)
 One month later, he was fined 5 shillings for
“unlawful fornification” with a Margaret
Wheeler, who died giving birth to HIS child.
Chapter 8
April 17th, his brother in law died. Six days later,
SP himself died.
 His will is in a special locked room at Britain's
National Archives. Has three different
signatures.
 Left 350 pounds in cash, 4 houses and their
contents and a good deal of land ~ worth about
1,000 pounds all together.
 To his wife, he left “his second-best bed with the
furniture” (bedclothes)
 Some argue that the “2nd best bed” was the
marital bed but it’s never been left in a will that
way.
 Nothing else was left to her explicitly.

Chapter 8
 His
wife died in 1623. Two daughters lived
on but no one thought to talk with them to
find out information about SP for his
biographies.
 Theaters were even more popular in the
years right after his death, but by 1642, the
Puritans shut them down, with only 6
remaining.
 Two close friends, Heminges and Condell,
gathered SP’s works and published them in
the First Folio. They were also the last of
the original ‘Chamberlain’s Men.’
Chapter 8
 Folio:
book where each sheet has been
folded just once down the middle, creating
two leaves or four pages. Typically about 15
inches high.
 Published by Edward Blount and William and
Isaac Jaggard.
 Kind of pricey at 1 pound (sonnets only cost 5
pence).
 First Folio did well and was followed by 2nd,
3rd, and 4th editions.
Chapter 8
 First
Folio seemed to be erratic and
contained many errors, even though it was
created to be the “best” form of SP’s works.
 Heminges and Condell are considered the
greatest literary heroes of all time.
 Only about 230 plays from SP’s life survived
all together, so about 15% of those are in the
First Folio.
 Plays are categorized as comedies, histories,
and tragedies.
Chapter 8
 Nobody
knows how many First Folio’s were
printed, but estimated @ 1,000.
 Most are located in the Folger Shakespeare
Library in Washington D.C., named for Henry
Clay Folger.
 Folger was a member of the Folger Coffee
family and president of Standard Oil.
 He began collecting material by and about
SP, some of which are very rare and hard to
find.
 He died in 1930 before the library was built.
 Library consists of 350k books and other
items, but the core is the First Folios.
Chapter 8
 At
the time of SP’s death, he was NOT
considered one of “the” great english
playwrights.
 After his death, some of his plays weren’t
performed again for a long time.
 Poems too went out of fashion for a long
time.
 Almost a century passed between his death
and an attempted first biography
Chapter 8
 Critical
appreciation of SP begins with
William Dodd, a clergyman and scholar of the
first rank. He published “Beauties of
Shakespeare” in 1752, remaining hugely
influential for about 150 years.
 In early 1770’s, he was convicted of identity
theft for receiving 4,200 lbs of $$ from
forging a signature and beheaded.
 (another instance of a Shakespearian scholar
being more than a little eccentric!)
Chapter 8
 1st
“real” SP scholar was Edmond Malone, an
Irish barrister
 Moved to London in 1793
 Acquired several important documents, etc.
about and of SP’s and contributed much
information about the Bard.
 Found information about his family, etc.
 Many other SP scholars were known to
“forge” or “create” information when it was
convenient.
Chapter 8
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
After his death, SP was laid to rest in the Holy Trinity
Church in Stratford.
His gravestone has no name but has this quote:
“Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forebear, to digg the
dust encloased heare. Bleste be the man that spares
thes stones and curst be he that moves my bones.”
Buried next to wife and other family, but they are
laid to rest in an odd order. Not by order of death
and by family relationships. Some important family
members are missing, and some other people are
included.
His grave is also shorter than the others.
Chapter 8
 Overlooking
the family’s site is a life size
painted bust of SP with a quill and a staring
expression with the message: (pg. 179)
 Some believe the monument doesn’t contain
his body but his manuscripts. There is no
evidence to support this.
Chapter 9: Claimants
A
large belief that the plays where written
by someone else
 Some believe that the vast amount of
information in them could not be contained
by just one person.
 Some believe SP was just the “Jimmy Buffett
of theatre ~ quite the entertainer but lacking
substance” and that he was covering for
someone who, for whatever reason, could
not publish their own works.
Chapter 9
 Bill
Bryson believes that all of the anti-SP
talk involved manipulation of facts.
 Bryson states that no one in SP’s lifetime or
the 1st 200 years after his death expressed
any doubts about his authorship.
 Where did this all come from?


Delia Bacon, an american woman born in 1811 in
Ohio. She lived in conneticut as a spinster and
teacher.
She was convinced that Francis Bacon, whom she
was named after, was the true author of SP.
Chapter 9
 (although
their names where the same, there
was not family connection)
 1852 she traveled to London to prove SP was
a fraud.
 She won over many influential ppl including
Ralph Waldo Emerson
 In 1857 she produced a 675 pg. Book devoted
to her claims, but was highly disregarded.
 She returned to America and retreated into
insanity, dying in institutional care in 1859,
believing she was the Holy Ghost.
Chapter 9
 Her
“Baconian” theory took root with Mark
Twain and Henry James becoming prominent
supporters.
 Many believed that his plays contained secret
codes that revealed the true author
 For example, Stratford is never mentioned in
the plays, but Bacon’s hometown is
mentioned 15 times.
Chapter 9
 Francis
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
Bacon:
Theory took on ‘cultlike’ status
Also believed to have written for Marlowe, Kyd,
Green, and Lyle, and the King Version of the
Bible
Some believed he was an illegitimate offspring of
Queen Elizabeth and her beloved Leicester.
Chapter 9
 Objectors
to the “Baconian Theory” suggest
that he already a full life without also
writing all of those works.
 No connections of Bacon with the theater, as
he attacked it as frivolous and lightweight in
many of his essays.
 Other theories:
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Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere (Oxfordians)
Christopher Marlowe
That his works were a compilation of several
different playwrights all together
Chapter 9
 Bryson’s
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
last thoughts on SP’s validity:
Theories suggest that SP’s upbringing was too
simple, but Bryson has proven he was educated,
etc.
Theories suggest that Stratford isn’t mentioned
but Bryson believes that a “Stratford boyhood
lurks in all the texts.”
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

He knew about animal hides
He refers to the trade of tanning (leather working)
He seems an “unashamed country boy”
Chapter 9


If it was a conspiracy, it was a truly extraordinary
one. It would have required the cooperation of
Jonson, Heminges, and Condell, members of his
acting company, family and friends.
“When we reflect upon the works of William
Shakespeare it is of course an amazement to consider
that one man could have produced such a sumptuous,
wise, varied, thrilling, ever delighting body of work,
but that is of course the hallmark of genius. Only
one man had the circumstances and gifts to give us
such incomparable works, and William Shakespeare of
Stratford was unquestionable that man, whoever he
was.”