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Essays about shakespeares authorship
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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.
The argument for Edward de Vere does sound plausible at first. Many connections have been made to Oxford's life and Hamlet (Bethell). Some of these connections are how Oxford and Hamlet are similar in the sense that “both were scholars, athletes, and poets”. Both have stabbed a supposed spy (one of Burghley's servants and Polonius respectively), both have a friend with similar names (Oxford had a friend named Horace Vere, who is “called Horatio in some documents”, and Hamlet's best friend is Horatio), and both were “captured by pirates en route to England”. Many Oxfordians concludes that these connections are probably not coincidence because of how abundant they are in Hamlet. Oxford also happens to have a very high education. Nowell, one of Oxford's tutors, says, “I clearly see that my work for the Earl of Oxford cannot be much longer required” (qtd. in Green). Oxford was so intelligent that his tutor said he had learned enough, which means he most likely knew enough to be able to write Shakespearean works. Oxford also has a legitimate motive for why he must hide his name by using another. Many people of noble status “have no ...
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...he Earl of Oxford is, and this can be seen using biographical evidence.
Works Cited
Bethell, Tom. "Looking for Shakespeare: Two Partisans Explain and Debate the Authorship Question." The Atlantic Monthly 268.4 (Oct. 1991): 43-61. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee and Dana Ramel Barnes. Vol. 41. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Edmondson, Paul, and Stanley Wells, eds. Shakespeare Beyond Doubt: Evidence, Argument, Controversy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, n.d. Print.
Green, Nina. "Oxford's Biography." The Oxford Authorship Site. N.p., 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
Looney, J. Thomas. "Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920. Print.
MrCrea, Scott. The Case for Shakespeare: The End of the Authorship Question. Westport: Praegar, 2005. Print.
Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Edward de Vere was the Lord Great Chamberlain and the seventeenth Earl of Oxford. He was raised as a Royal Ward and from a very young age was educated in the sports and arts of nobility. Although disgraceful for a nobleman to waste time writing frivolous plays, Oxford as a young man wrote and staged the entertainment for the court. As an adult, he became engrossed in theatrical performances and frittered away his fortunes in support of several writers and actors (Friedman 13). During this time, De Vere also began writing several poems and plays. Much like Samuel Clemens, who wrote under the name of Mark Twain, Oxford adopted the pseudonym Shakespeare. Soon after plays appeared under the name of "Shakespeare," poems by de Vere ceased (Russell 5). Coincidently, the coat of arms of Lord Bulbeck, a third title of Edward de Vere, is a lion shaking a spear (Ogburn 10). De Vere was also known by the people as the "spear-shaker" because of excellence at the tilts and at jousting (Russell 5).
Clark, W. G. and Wright, W. Aldis , ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 1. New York: Nelson-Doubleday
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Edited Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
47-58. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 118. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2011.
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.
Earl Staelin. The Case for Edward DeVere, The 17th Earl Of Oxford As Shakespeare. November 8, 2002. http://www.free-books.org/shakespeare/EdwardDeVere-17EarlOxford.htm
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Quarrels. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Calderwood, James L. and Howard E. Tolvier, eds. Essays in Shakespearean Criticism. NJ:Prentice Hall, Inc. 1970
Williamson, Sandra L., and James E. Person, Jr., eds. Shakespearean Criticism. 31 vols. Detroit: Gale
Edward de Vere, also referred to as the Earl of Oxford, is widely considered the most probable candidate for the authorship. De Vere was a poet and known as the patron of writers, keeping his own troupe of actors and was known as the "Italian Earl" after his travels. He was mostly lost to history until the 1920s, “when J. Thomas Looney claimed the earl was the real Shakespeare; an increasing number of books have been published surrounding this theory” (“Edward de Vere - Biography”). Since J. Thomas Looney’s first claim, this theory gathered friction, now known as the “Oxfordian Theory”. Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
"Craig, W.J., Ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare." Craig, W.J., Ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. .
James, D.G. (Excerpt from a series of lectures delivered in 1965 at University College, London.) The Shakespeare Criticism Volume 8. Gale Research Inc., Detroit. 1989: 429-434.
Shakespeare Studies 11 (1978): 53-76. MLA International Bibliography. Web. The Web. The Web.