The question Shakespeare enthusiasts are sick of answering
By: Better Morning Reading
Tags: Shakespeare, Books And Authors, Books

Spoiler: It’s authorship

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

Recently moderators on the subreddit dedicated to Shakespeare discussion introduced an interesting new rule: no more asking whether William Shakespeare really wrote all the plays historically attributed to him.

There Is No Authorship Question There are a number of other subs that discuss the various theories that someone other than the man from Stratford wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare. This is not that place.

Apparently this is a very popular question stemming from the fact that many details of Shakespeare’s era have simply been lost to the sands of time. But it seems that there likely isn’t much left to discover, and the folks who hang out on that subreddit either feel sick of having the same conversations, or just think that the unanswerable question is merely a distraction from exploring the works themselves.

It’s also not a particularly new question nor one that lends itself well to debate on an internet forum. Going back to the 1700s, scores of books have been written on the topic (though, nobody seemed to seriously doubt Shakespeare as the author for about two centuries). In fact, the debate is old enough that followers of competing theories of who the real author was have waged campaigns against others. Societies have been formed to find the answer and feed the debate.

The real answer is the same as any, isn’t it? We’re pretty sure things are as they seem (i.e. William Shakespeare is really the author) but we just don’t know.

Photo by antonio molinari on Unsplash

Anyway, here are some reasons to doubt why Shakespeare actually wrote Shakespeare:

There no paychecks or contracts for the any of the plays with William Shakespeare’s signature

No documentation of Shakespeare having been an author: written records detail more mundane transactions, like his pursuits as an investor and real estate collector

Many people in the Elizabethan England used others to promote their work to avoid consequences from restrictions to free speech

Shakespeare wasn’t educated enough to have insight into law, royal affairs, the inner relationships of high class society

Both of Shakespeare’s parents were probably illiterate

The female voices in the plays are too convincing to have been written by one man

There is no evidence Shakespeare ever left England, and his plays contain many details of foreign lands

There was no public mourning for him when he died

His will, which included inheritances given to many people who were close to him doesn’t include a single book

His surname was spelled inconsistently (sometimes as “Shake-speare” or “Shak-spear”) in both literary and non-literary documents, with the most variation observed in those that were written by hand.

Other smart people including Mark Twain, Hellen Keller, Sigmund Freud, Walt Whitman, Charlie Chaplin, Henry James, Malcolm X, and Orson Welles have publicly doubted Shakespeare as the author

So the real author really was:

Shakespeare, but as one of many in a collaboration with a bunch of other writers including George Peele, Fletcher, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nash, George Wilkins, Thomas Middleton. (Boring!)

Francis Bacon . A philosopher, contributor to the creation of the scientific method, and Oxford grad who didn’t want to be associated with a lowly pursuit such as writing plays. Further evidence comes from the number of secret messages pointing to this fact throughout the plays.

. A philosopher, contributor to the creation of the scientific method, and Oxford grad who didn’t want to be associated with a lowly pursuit such as writing plays. Further evidence comes from the number of secret messages pointing to this fact throughout the plays. Edward de Vere , the 17th Earl of Oxford. A well-known poet from the time who happened to stop publishing poetry under his own name shortly after Shakespeare’s first plays appeared.

, the 17th Earl of Oxford. A well-known poet from the time who happened to stop publishing poetry under his own name shortly after Shakespeare’s first plays appeared. Christopher Marlowe . Another notable poet and playwright from the time whose writing is extremely similar to the works of Shakespeare. The timing of his mysterious death in 1593 works out well with the initial appearance of Shakespeare’s early works.

. Another notable poet and playwright from the time whose writing is extremely similar to the works of Shakespeare. The timing of his mysterious death in 1593 works out well with the initial appearance of Shakespeare’s early works. Mary Sidney . The inner workings of royal politics in the plays may have been informed by her first hand experience in Elizabeth I’s court.

. The inner workings of royal politics in the plays may have been informed by her first hand experience in Elizabeth I’s court. Emilia Bassano . The daughter of a literal merchant of Venice. The number of plays set in Italy as well as the presence and generally positive portrayal of Jews could be explained by the fact that she was the real author. May have been Shakespeare’s mistress.

. The daughter of a literal merchant of Venice. The number of plays set in Italy as well as the presence and generally positive portrayal of Jews could be explained by the fact that she was the real author. May have been Shakespeare’s mistress. Queen Elizabeth herself. Explains why some of Shakespeare’s plays seem to be propaganda in favor of the House of Tudor.

Is that it? No, actually there are 87 individuals listed on the Wikipedia page dedicated to listing the candidates for authorship!