Was William
Shakespeare the
true author of 36
plays, 135 sonnets,
and 2 long
narrative poems?
Symantha Solano
10th HONORS English
3-1-13
7th period
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's authorship was first
questioned in the middle of the 19th
century, when adulation of Shakespeare
as the greatest writer of all time had
become widespread. Shakespeare's
biography, particularly his humble
origins and obscure life, seemed
incompatible with his poetic eminence
and his reputation for genius, arousing
suspicion that Shakespeare might not
have written the works attributed to
him
Supporters of alternative candidates
argue that theirs is the more plausible
author, and that William Shakespeare
was not plausible for his work due to the
lack of knowledge he possessed
pertaining to the royal court system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
William Shakespeare continued…
Only a small minority of academics believe there is
reason to question the traditional attribution
Contemporary comments and textual studies support
the authorship of someone with an education,
background, and life span not consistent with that of
William Shakespeare.
Edward de Vere
17th Earl of Oxford
Aristocratic, educated first privately,
then at Cambridge and Gray's Inn.
George Puttenham says he knows men
in the Court that have written many
books, and they have published their
books without their own names as if it
was a bad thing for men to seem
knowledgeable. The first one he knows is
the noble gentleman Edward de Vere,
Earl of Oxford.
An English professor named J. Thomas
Looney, proposed Oxford as a candidate
for the authorship of Shakespeare's
works. His theory was based on
perceived analogies between Oxford's
life and poetic techniques in
Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxfordian_theory_of_Shak
espeare_authorship
Edward de Vere continued…
Theories were based on perceived analogies between
Oxford's life and poetic techniques in Shakespeare's plays
and sonnets. It supplanted an earlier popular theory
involving Francis Bacon. Academic consensus rejects all
alternative candidates for authorship, including Oxford.
Christopher Marlowe
Corpus Christian College, Cambridge
This talented, bohemian dramatist from the
Elizabethan era died in 1593 --at the age of 29 (the
same age as the Stratford man in that year) and on
the eve of the publication of Shakespeare's works.
When Christopher Marlowe died, his supporters point
to irregularities in the coroner's inquest, and they
suppose that Marlowe did not really die in that year
but lived on to write the works of "Shakespeare," a
subterfuge necessitated by the "official cover-up" of
his documented activities as a spy for the crown.
But the inquest irregularities do not prove that
Marlowe didn't die; conceivably they have been
fabricated to cover up the true cause of his death, but
not the fact that he did die, a scenario which is
wholly void of any positive evidence let alone
conclusive proof.
Shakespeare: Christopher Marlowe Theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTM0
wW2SNlU&edufilter=ItIg2V4IIX_lr6ECGXKr
ag
http://vpt.littlefoible.net/people/cast-marlowe.html
Christopher Marlowe continued…
Christopher Marlowe’s death was supposedly faked so that he was
not faced with almost certain execution on charges of subversive
atheism.
As stated, there were noted some irregularities in the coroner’s
inquest. What it does not state is exactly what was so “irregular”
about it? What specific details did the coroner either miss or
misjudge? Or did the coroner simply just make a stupid mistake? No
one is definite on what the inquest irregularity truly was. In that
case, for all anyone knows Christopher Marlowe could’ve died from
anything at the time he was actually pronounced dead.
Francis Bacon
Sir Francis Bacon was the first alternative candidate
proposed as the true author of Shakespeare's plays and
was the leading candidate in the nineteenth and early
twentieth century.
It is difficult to imagine that Francis Bacon, with the full
life he led and his other numerous literary and official
preoccupations, could have also composed 36 plays, 154
sonnets and 2 long narrative poems of the quality these
works exhibit. Though both Bacon and Shakespeare had
wide knowledge of the law, Shakespeare's usages of legal
terminology, unlike Bacon's, are richly metaphorical.
Francis Bacon did not possess the keen
intellect and sophistication that William
Shakespeare possessed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTM0wW2SNlU&edufilt
er=ItIg2V4IIX_lr6ECGXKrag
Francis Bacon continued…
Francis Bacon lived a life full. For example , his books that he himself
wrote and published with his own name, are significantly different
from the works of William Shakespeare.
http://blogs.law.yale.edu/blogs/rarebooks/a
rchive/tags/English+law/default.aspx
http://smu.edu/bridwell_tools/exhibits/Science&Re
ligion.htm
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
(Edward de Vere)
In 1571, Edward de Vere took a step that ensured the Elizabethan
State's retention and intensification of its more than passing
interest in him when he was betrothed (with apparent reluctance)
to the fourteen year-old daughter of William Cecil. As Master of
the Court of Wards who - by his arrangment of this marital bond
between Oxford and his daughter in order to ennoble his family William Cecil was duly elevated to the peerage as the first baron
Burghley, and Edward de Vere became the son-in-law of the most
powerful man in England. In ensuing years, after a difficult
marriage and prior to an all-too-early death, Anne bore Oxford
three daughters who survived to adulthood: Elizabeth—whose
legitimacy, however, Oxford bitterly disputed—as well as Bridget
and Susan. All three of Oxford's daughters, very interestingly,
either married or were proposed for marriage to the three men
(the only three men) to whom the poems and plays of Shakespeare
were dedicated—the earls of Southampton, Montgomery and
Pembroke).
If William Cecil is the real Shakespeare, then he dedicated the
poems and plays to his grandsons. If Edward de Vere is the real
Shakespeare, then he dedicated his works to his son-in-laws.
http://www.nndb.com/people/243/000102934/
William Cecil continued…
Due to his role as guardian and father-in-law to Edward de
Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, William Cecil figures largely in
the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare’s authorship.
Proponents of this view claim that the character of
Polonius in Hamlet is a parody of Cecil, an interpretation
which a minority of mainstream scholars have agreed with.
Born in 1520, Burghley was Elizabeth's principle
Secretary of State. More Protestant than the Queen but
less Puritan than Walsingham, Burghley was a
consummate handler of the Queen at her best and worst.
William Cecil is the true Shakespeare. Cecil clearly
possessed the qualities and knowledge of the royal court
system that none of the other candidates held. “William
Shakespeare” showed extremely high amounts of
knowledge regarding the royal court system.