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The Shakespeare authorship debate essay by Jason Kwon
William Shakespeare's life and career
William Shakespeare's life and career
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Is Shakespeare REALLY Shakespeare? Scholars think that he was not a real man and another person just used his name to put on the writings. According to some researchers, Shakespeare was not a writer, he was actually an illiterate actor by the name of William Shaxper who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. Shaxper grew up in an illiterate house and there is no record that he ever traveled outside of England. Despite this information, some historians believe that Shakespeare was the real author but evidence proves that there could be another author.
Scholars say that a man without much schooling is unlikely to write such profound stories, ". . . Will Shakespeare of Stratford is not known ever to have attended so much as a single day of school"(Wright). This evidence suggests that there was a man named William Shakespeare, but William had not attended school and was never educated. If he was never educated, how can he know so much about royal families? Prince Charles himself was perplexed at how much information William knew, "as Prince Charles, the Prince of
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Wales, has expressed his astonishment at Shakespeare's ability to know the intimate character of royalty . . ."(Wright). Shakespeare was never known to be in any kind of royal family, so it is very suspicious that he has an insight into Royal affairs that perplexes an actual member of a royal family. Maybe the real Shakespeare is part of a royal family and he was just too embarrassed to put his real name on the works and paid someone named William Shakespeare to use their name. Diamond 2 Researchers believe that an actual man named Shakespeare or Shaxper was too illiterate to write things like Shakespeare's works "The gist of the arguments is that Shakespeare was himself too low-born, too uneducated, or too unlikely a source wrote that play himself . . ."(Wheeler), with this information, it makes people think it could be a noble or royal person because if Shakespeare really was illiterate, it makes it hard to believe he wrote the works. "The writer of Shakespeare's plays had command of not only English, but Latin, Greek, French, Italian, German, Spanish and other languages"(Cutler), Shakespeare's works were written in many languages, so the writer would have to be fluent and understand the languages. If the man Shakespeare had never left England and never went to school, he would not have had any way to learn all the languages that he written in. This evidence of illiteracy and lack of schooling and traveling. Has some scholars convinced that Shakespeare was not the real author. The year 1857 was the first time that anyone wrote an assault on William Shakespeare, "Her[Delia Bacon] 675-page The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded cast Shakespeare as a 'stupid, ignorant, third rate player'.
. ."(Nickell). Delia Bacon was a believer the Francis Bacon, another Elizabethan writer, was Shakespeare and she tried to find evidence of that, "Believing she [Delia Bacon] had deciphered cryptic messages in Francis Bacon's letters that pointed to certain secrets-perhaps even manuscripts-hidden in a hollow beneath the gravestone, she fully intended to excavate but then struggled with her supposed evidence and finally lost her nerve. She died insane at age forty-eight"(Nickell). Delian clearly had her own ideas about who wrote Shakespeare's plays and she was willing to do anything in her power to uncover the truth. Unfortunately, she died before she could prove her theory. Delia writing
this Diamond 3 book could have convinced people to believe her insane or maybe not so insane ideas. Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere are two writers that scholars think could be Shakespeare. As far as Christopher Marlowe goes, he died before some of Shakespeare's plays were written, "The fact that Marlowe was killed in a tavern fight before the majority of the Bard's plays had been written . . ."(Nickell). There are people still convinced that Marlowe was the author even though he died before many of the works were written. If he was killed in a bar fight, how could he have written the plays? Well, Calvin Hoffman might have an answer for you: ". . . A Broadway press agent named Calvin Hoffman, conjured up an explanation. Marlowe's death, Hoffman imagined, was staged by killing some foreign sailor in his stead, while Marlowe fled via France to Italy where he began to write plays before eventually returning to England in disguise"(Nickell). There is no way to know if this assumption is true, but it could be a plausible explanation for the Marlowe authorship theory. As far Edward de Vere, evidence suggests that he also died before some of Shakespeare's plays were written, "the hardest part to swallow is that de Vere died in 1604. Shakespeare's later plays, such as the Winter's Tale, were only licensed for performance in 1610, and The Tempest was almost certainly inspired by a shipwreck off Bermuda in 1609"(Wright). If de Vere died in 1604, there is no way that he could have written the works that came after 1604. Marlowe and de Vere both "died" before some of Shakespeare's plays were even written so their theories just don't seem to add up. Fulke Greville is another writer who is rumored to be Shakespeare because of a quote that Fulke wrote,"the argument of Greville's authorship is based around an obscure quote from his biography, which says that he wanted 'to be known to posterity under no other notions than of Shakespeare's master"(Andrews). This quote could possibly be Fulke admitting that he is the Diamond 4 man behind the name "Shakespeare". Scholars also use the fact that Fulke and Shakespeare have many similarities between them, "Greville's life also has eerie parallels with Shakespeare. Both men lived in Stratford-upon-Avon-perhaps even on the same street. . ."(Andrews). The parallels that the two men had between them could be evidence that Fulke is Shakespeare or it could be a big coincidence. Also, Fulke was a noble, so it would make sense that he knew all the languages that Shakespeare wrote in. Francis Bacon is another Elizabethan author who is rumored to be Shakespeare. Evidence suggests that both Shakespeare and Bacon both had the tendency to make up new words, "both Bacon and Shakespeare possessed an immense vocabulary and constantly coined new words"(Walker). It is a known fact that Shakespeare made up many of the words that we use daily, and this piece of evidence is critical to the Francis Bacon theory. Another piece of evidence is that researchers found a journal written by Bacon that had phrases that ended up in Shakespeare plays, "Bacon wrote a notebook in which he collected phrases, most of which later appeared in Shakespeare plays"(Walker). Scholars use this notebook of phrases to add to the evidence of Bacon being the real author. There is no way to tell if Bacon was the real author, but some people still have their opinions on the theory. The world may never know the real story behind Shakespeare. Only the man who called himself Shakespeare would know the real answer. Whether you think Shakespeare is a fraud, completely different person, or you believe Shakespeare IS Shakespeare, like Kelly Pate does who says, "Shakespeare is the real author and other people were just jealous of him and tried to discredit him"(Pate), you have to admit that Shakespeare's writings were and still are some of the best in the world and still enjoyed by many to this day
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as on the of the best playwrights and poets to have ever existed. “It is a widely speculated topic that William Shakespeare did not write the poems and that up to about 50 other poets could have writen them.”("Shakespeare facts: Read," 2011) “William Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the english language.” ("Shakespeare facts: Read," 2011) It is widely speculated that the true Shakespeare is actually Edward De Vere. I firmlybelieve Shakespeare was not the true playwright because of his lack of education, lack of upper class etiquette, and the different penmanship over time.
William Shakespeare, an illustrious and eminent playwright from the Elizabethan Age (16th Century) and part owner of the Globe theatre wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he portrays the theme of love in many different ways. These include the paternal love seen in the troubled times for Egeus and his rebellious daughter Hermia, true Love displayed with the valiant acts of Lysander and Hermia and the destructive love present in the agonizing acts of Titania towards her desperate lover Oberon. Through the highs and lows of love, the first love we clasp is the paternal love from our family.
Although there are some pieces of evidence that prove otherwise, it is clear to see that Shakespeare wrote his plays.
Ghosts are illusions that can be deceiving while reading in books; in movies, they can be portrayed as floating, transparent people. On the other hand, in plays, it is quite different. Some plays may have actual people play ghosts or sometimes they may not have anyone play the ghost. In stage productions of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, directors should have an actor portray Banquo’s Ghost because it would help the audience better understand what is happening, the audience is able to see exactly what Macbeth is seeing and it draws the audience’s attention more.
glover. When he was 18 years old he married Anne Hathaway and they had 3 children by
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.
Due to the confusion of a minor mistake from Shakespeare’s time, his true birth date, along with where his education took place remains a mystery. The only things that biographers have to hold onto are suspicions as to where these events could’ve been observed. His suspected is birthday is observed by the public as Saint George’s Day, April 23rd. With only a day given, his exact birth year remains a questionable theory. It is believed that Shakespeare actually attended the school closest to his home in Stratford, known as the “King’s New School”, where he studies grammar. He didn’t choose to continue his studies by going forward into a university. Since there is hardly any factual information about Shakespeare, due to a slight “error”, suspicion arises. ...
Across the Universe of Time: Shakespeare’s influence on 21st century society. It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely, if ever, is one of his many plays not being performed anywhere in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high school English departments across the globe.
Ever since the author's background has been questioned, scholars and other people have debated over who wrote the famous plays and sonnets that have the name William Shakespeare signed on them. Many alternative candidates have been presented, such as Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. However, these people do not have strong or valid arguments to support their theories. Based on biographical evidence, Shakespeare, not Edward de Vere, most likely wrote Shakespearean works. The arguments for other candidates like de Vere are not strong enough to show that Shakespeare did not write Shakespearean works.
From baptism records, we know William's father was a John Shakespeare, said to be a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who dabbled in tanning, leatherwork and whittawering which is working with white leather to make items like purses and gloves. John also dealt in grain and sometimes was described as a glover by trade.
In today’s world the quality of the art form called writing is said to be somewhat diminishing, it is important for English literature to keep some studies of classic literature, such as Shakespeare. I think well rounded education must have a strong foundation in both modern and classical literature, for the foundation in classical literature, an in-depth study of Shakespeare’s works would be more than sufficient. Not only was Shakespeare so skilled in his writing that he has become a significant point in the history of literature, but a majority of his works were written on such basic human themes that they will last for all time and must not be forgotten.
Shakespeare can be shown to be a strong influence on many modern aspects of everyday life today, ranging from comedies, tragedies, history, modern television, and many other examples. Shakespeare is well known across the world and will continue to be an influence in the future. His true birthdate is unknown to this day, but his Baptized date was April 26th, 1564 in England.
England's most talented and well know poet and dramatist was born on April 23, 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon, located in the cetre of England. His father, John, was a glove-maker and wool dealer involved with money lending. His mother Mary Arden was the daughter of a Farmer. William was the third out of eight children whom all died young. His father became Mayor in 1568, after serving on the town council for many years.
“And cut your trusters’ throats! Bound servants; steal: Large-handed robbers your grave masters are pill by law” (Adrams). The original language of Shakespeare from Timon of Athens has since been modernized to “Workers, steal - your bosses are crooks In fine suits, gangsters raking in their loot, Legalized pirates” (Adrams). Furthermore, modernized versions do have some benefits for students and teachers. Unfortunately, the language used to translate Shakespeare
He was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23rd, 1564. Shakespeare never attended a university and was thought to have been educated at a local school in Stratford. The purpose of this minor school was to prepare scholars for the hard toil of the grammar school. No history, geography, music, handicrafts or physical training was taught. It is evident no doubt that William gained something from the Latin texts he read at school. He loved Ovid and was overjoyed when towards the end of the century Francis Meres wrote: ‘As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras: so the sweete wittie soule of Ovis lives in mellifluous an...