Persuasive Essay On William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is known to be one of the greatest dramatists of all time. He was one of the most valued playwrights and actor in England, and was also typically known as the English National Poet. One of his ‘nicknames’ that he was known as, was the “Bard of Avon”. He is famous for the thirty seven plays, one hundred and fifty four sonnets and collaborations with other writers that were accredited to him. “His plays have been translated into just about every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime.” (Biography of William Shakespeare) There is a lot of controversy on whether Shakespeare actually

existed, and that even if he did exist, whether he actually was the one to write the poems that are credited to him.
Knowing about his life is very important before trying to understand the entire authorship controversy. But, since Shakespeare lived over four hundred years ago, we don’t know too much about his life, because documents and records from that long ago usually get lost or may not even exist. (Shakespeare’s Life) But here are some things we do know: He is known to have been born in the year of 1564, but there are actually no birth records of William Shakespeare, and no proof of what specific day he was born on. Simply that he was born in the year of 1564. But, discovered church records indicated that he was baptized on April 26, 1564 at the Holy Trinity Church, located in Stratford upon Avon. Because of this discovery, it is believed he was born on April 23, 1564 (or near that day) because at that time, infants were typically baptized three days after their birth. This is also the date scholars now acknowledge as his birthday. Coincidently enough, in the year of 1616, he died on this same day, that is known as and considered his birthday. (The Life of Shakespeare)
Shakespeare is known to have gone to a local elementary school that was called Kings New School. The information that would have been presented and taught here would have had much to do with “a classical education of Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, and possibly Greek.” (The Life of Shakespeare) The town he grew up in was extremely small and was said to have been located approximately one hundred miles northwest of London. Later in his life, when individuals his age were going off to University, he did not because he was unable to due to his family’s financial struggles. This is because, unlike some others in this time period, he was not born into a family of nobility. This kept him from attending University, being mentored by any artist, and he also didn’t marry into any wealth. But, in the year of 1582, he married a lovely woman named Anne Hathaway. The following year of 1583, they welcomed their first child into the world, who was their daughter named Susanna. Two year after Susanna was born they had twins, who they named Hamnet and Judith. But, the seven years following their birth, there is not much record of Shakespeare that is complete or reliable, so this time was referred to as Shakespeare’s “lost years.”
Something considered good proof that Shakespeare actually wrote all of the plays, sonnets, poems and collaborations that are credited to him, is simply the fact that his name is shown on them as the author.

Even though it may not be considered much, his signature appears on some of them. Antistratfordians - who are people who, believe Shakespeare’s works were written by someone other than him – really take into consideration of the fact that his early works do not have an author’s name on them. This makes them think that there was an amount of effort put into it, of trying to keep the authors name unknown. But the thing is, is that plays that were similar to Shakespeare’s in this time period, we not actually considered literature, so until after the 1600s, most people didn’t really care about who the author was, and didn’t really pay attention to it. “Only about a third of all the plays printed in the 1590s named the author on the title page, and a significant portion of these were the Shakespeare quartos late in the decade.” (How We Know that Shakespeare….) By reading this, it has to be acknowledged that simply because his name wasn’t on every single thing that he wrote, doesn’t mean that he was actually the one to write it, because it simply just wasn’t common for the author to be named in this time

period.
There is actually very little documentation of Shakespeare’s life in general. Not only is his writing undocumented, there is no documentation of his birth even. The very few things that were recorded besides a few signatures include: the record of his marriage to Anne Hathaway, the birth of all three of their children, and a few business papers that actually had absolutely nothing to do with writing. Because of this, nothing has been discovered to prove the actual composition of the thirty seven plays and one hundred and fifty four sonnets that are credited to him, even though they are all considered some of the greatest works in the English language. Since there is very little proof of anything, is has caused a bit of skepticism. The lack of proof causes scholars to think about how Shakespeare actually had a lack of education and knowledge, about things he is claimed to have written about. (Did Shakespeare really write his own plays?)
But if Shakespeare didn’t write his own plays and sonnets, that leads to the question of: then who did? Many scholars have been led to believe that the actual author was Edward De Vere. De vere was also known as the 17th Earl of Oxford. The main reason he is thought to have written the plays instead of Shakespeare is because De vere had a vast amount of knowledge of the upper-class and unlike Shakespeare, he continued his education so he had much more formal knowledge. There are also several similarities between the two individuals writing styles. (De Vere Authorship Argument) This is why it seems to be hard to believe that Shakespeare wrote the plays accredited to him. Since The Earl of Oxford was much more educated and knowledgeable, it makes sense that he would be the actual author of the plays, right?
A lot of scholars will bring up this question as well: if De Vere was the actual author of the plays, then did Shakespeare even exist? About one hundred and fifty years after Shakespeare passed away, a lot of doubt arose on whether Shakespeare actually even existed. The very little amount of information on his early personal life makes it hard for some to believe that he did. If you think about it, plagiarism wasn’t really an issue back then and wasn’t illegal in any way, so who knows to the author was. But, documents about the later years of his life strongly suggest he did exist. Things like those that were previously mentioned like: His marriage to Anne Hathaway and the birth of their three children Susanna, Hamnet and Judith, signatures on some of his works, and the few business papers that were discovered prove that Shakespeare himself actually did exist. The doubt really should only be with whether or not he was truthfully the one that wrote all of the poems that are accredited to him. (Did Shakespeare Really Exist)
“Not to be too obvious, but aren’t the play’s the thing? Does it matter materially to how we embrace the plays today whether they were written by a commoner or a nobleman? Aren’t they still amazing, entertaining, frustrating, and challenging regardless of who wrote them?” (Does it Matter…) These questions are questions that scholars and historians should ask themselves about the Shakespeare controversy. Does it matter? What will change if Shakespeare didn’t write them? Nothing. We will still embrace the poems and use them like we do. But, on the other hand, if Shakespeare didn’t write the plays, poems, and sonnets accredited to him, who did? That person should get credit for their work, and should be acknowledged for what amazing things they have brought to this world.