Shakespeare's Anti-Stratfordian Research

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Prior to this assignment, I had never considered the possibility of another author of Shakespeare's many plays, however after it had been mentioned I began considering the possibility. Even before conducting this research, I considered myself somewhat knowledgeable of Shakespeare in comparison to others. By the end of the assignment I fully considered myself as a Stratfordian. Despite my stance on the subject, if it was to be discovered that there is definitely another author of the Shakespearean comedies and tragedies, I would still consider that possible since both theories have multiple inconsistencies. My first source, content.time.com, functioned as an unbiased and fairly useful but basic source. It ultimately provided as a good source …show more content…

The author continued the same argument as TIME magazine, claiming that he was far too ordinary to write plays and poems as extravagant as is claimed. However, they did justify the theory of Shakespeare being the only author of his prestigious plays and poems by mentioning the possibility that his imagination and elaborate detail, despite lacking experience, may have been inspired from other literature and stories, as well as retellings of other people that he had heard. I believe this source is fairly unbiased, because despite the many anti-stratfordian theories that were offered, the author continued to remind the audience that Shakespeare’s authenticity should not be overlooked. Ultimately, this article was an excellent source to continue my early research, as it presented the most popular theories and had clear and concise reasoning and …show more content…

I deemed the work reliable since this was part of yet another well known media franchise, and the author, David Bevington, is a respected professor of English language and literature at Chicago University. Unlike the past two articles I had utilized, this piece was positively written by a stratfordian, as it denounced many theories rebuking William Shakespeare as the sole author of his proclaimed literary works. Bevington began by initially disproving one of the most popular theoretical alternative authors, The Earl Of Oxford. Many Anti-stratfordians claim that he was the true author of the writing, however the author of this third article proves that as false since The Earl died in 1604, before some of the more famous plays were written including Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and Henry VIII. He continues to abolish the anti-stratfordian claim that Shakespeare’s lack of education disqualifies him, which is ultimately ludicrous since other famous playwrights of the same era, such as John Webster and Thomas Dekker, also did not receive a high education. He went on to revile the claim that Shakespeare's authorship is uncredible due to the lack of handwriting samples and manuscripts. Bevington explained how other playwrights rivaling Shakespeare, including Christopher

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