A poet and a playwright, William Shakespeare won a worldwide reputation as capturing human emotions and conflict. His famous plays include Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear. Despite his great works, some critics questioned the authorship of Shakespeare. In the Renaissance period in England, many authors used pseudonyms because the publication of poetry and drama existed as one of the taboos. Considering this, many books and articles were written claiming that someone other than William Shakespeare wrote the plays and poems. By mentioning the names of intelligent poets in Shakespeare’s time, people debated and came up with theories. Among all those possibilities, the most popular theories include three candidates: Edward de Vere, …show more content…
However, while Spedding committed his time to write the biography of Bacon, Miss Bacon spent all her lifetime on suggesting Francis Bacon as a true author of Shakespeare. Francis Bacon was a British’s most intelligent philosopher and writer. According to Miss Bacon, the philosophical ideas in Bacon’s writings shared similarities with the works of Shakespeare. For example, in Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare, he used same interpretation of the philosophy of Aristotle with Bacon. Even though it was slight different from what Aristotle actually said, the same expression on common philosophy added more possibility in the theory. Another example is in Bacon’s notebook, Promus, which proverbs, metaphors, and aphorisms were hand written by Bacon. The supporters of Baconian Theory found several parallelisms between phrases in Shakespeare plays and aphorisms in Promus. In 1883, Henry Pott again observed Promus and revealed that thousands of thought and expression between Bacon and Shakespeare were matching (Edmondson, 2013, 26). In 1626, the year when Francis Bacon died, his private chaplain William Rawley released a collection of eulogies by writers and scholars (Shapiro, 2010, p.92). This work revealed Bacon as a concealed poet. Also, writers used unique descriptions and symbolic analogies referring to Bacon in the eulogies which only used in the works of Shakespeare and were carved on the Stratford
Francis Bacon was an Attorney General and a Lord Chancellor under King James. The Lord Chancellor is the Second most powerful man in the country. Unlike William Shakespeare who in those times was a lowly actor looked down upon by the aristocratic class and it is contested whether he even had the education to even write at all, let alone what are considered to be the greatest literary works of all time. He also lacked the experience to write so well of things he never could have known no matter how smart, it would have taken personal experience to write on various topics so well. Legalese terms for example and the Inner workings of Royal Courts which a lowly actor could not have known. While Edward de Vere certainly had some power...
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.
Abstract: The debate over the legitimacy of the authorship of Shakespearean works has been disputed for centuries. While many scholars have held beliefs that Shakespeare's works have been written by figures such as Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, William Stanley, and others, the most heated debate today is between William Shakespeare and Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford. Each side of this debate has many followers, the Stratfordians, or those who claim Shakespeare to be the true author, and the Oxfordians who believe that true credit should go to DeVere. My paper, far from being a complete analysis of the possibilities of Shakespearean authorship, attempts to summarize and rationalize the arguments of these two groups. It would be impossible to include all arguments and evidence in a paper such as this. Full books have been written on aspects of the debate I will not even mention, or may just barely touch on. Hopefully after reading this paper, however, you will have a little better understanding of the debate of authorship. As I am not in any respect a scholar on the subject I shall not attempt to make a conclusion as to which of these men is the author, but rather to inform and explain the many arguments on both sides of this debate in the hopes that the reader can learn a little more about the ongoing debate and form an opinion of his or her own.
The works of Shakespeare are some of the most respected in English literature. They have set the standard for all the great writers who followed. Although these works have been attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford, they could have been written by anyone. The definite authorship of a work is always uncertain, but these works are particularly contested. There are those who believe someone besides Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the works, while others believe his identity, as a whole, is a conspiracy. Clearly the author of a work is important, but some wonder if knowing the author’s identity is really worth all the fuss. The works of Shakespeare will still reign at the top of English literature no matter who wrote them. Therefore, the question of authorship may not even be relevant.
Michael R. Katz, Ph.D. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Shakespeare, William. The.
Spurgeon, Caroline. Shakespeare's Imagery And What It Tells Us. London : Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Shakespeare, William, Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.
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.
Although William Shakespeare is considered to be one of the most revered and well-renowned authors of all time, controversy surrounds the belief that he actually produced his own literary works. Some rumors even go so far as to question the reality of such a one, William Shakespeare, brought on by paralleling the quality of his pieces with his personal background and education. With such farfetched allegations, it persuaded others to peek into the person we all are taught to learn as “Shakespeare”, but who is actually the person behind these genius works of literary promise and enlightenment? To some, Shakespeare is as much accredited to his works as frequently as you see his name placed. To others, Shakespeare is a complex enigma into which we the people are supposed to unravel; the true author behind a falsely-given pseudonym. The debate pertaining to the true authorship of William Shakespeare’s works are still questioned in today’s society.
Lectures and Notes on Shakespeare and Other English Poets. London : George Bell and Sons, 1904. p. 342-368. http://ds.dial.pipex.com/thomas_larque/ham1-col.htm.
Looney, J. Thomas. "Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920. Print.
Shakespeare’s works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death, and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established. The unprecedented admiration garnered by his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeare’s life, but the dearth of biographical information has left many details of Shakespeare’s personal history shrouded in mystery. Some people have concluded from this fact and from Shakespeare’s modest education that Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by someone else—Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford are the two most popular -candidates—but the support for this claim is overwhelmingly circumstantial, and the theory is not taken seriously by many scholars.
The Review of English Studies, January 1945, 21(81): 52-56. Print. The. Shakespeare, William. The.
Mainly referred as the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare was an exquisite English writer whose works have altered the course of European and World literature. Shakespeare’s works have influenced many writers and philosophers all around the world. Despite his influence, Shakespeare’s personal life and his role in the creations were questioned. How could a man, who seemed so simple, create such work that would affect the world of literature? This created a huge historical debate; but despite the controversy, Shakespeare still remains a figure of worldwide importance.
William Shakespeare’s life has brought much curiosity to many. This is natural as he is considered to be the greatest figure of English Literature. William Shakespeare, in terms of his life and work, is the most written-about author in the history of Western civilization. His works include 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 epic narrative poems, the First of which was published after his death in 1623 by two of Shakespeare's acting companions, John Heminges and Henry Condell. Since then, the works of Shakespeare have been studied, analyzed, and enjoyed as some of the finest work of art in the English language.