The Authorship Question

2 Pages 490 Words

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, King Lear. These are just a few examples of plays associated with the name William Shakespeare. Is William Shakespeare of Stratford the person who deserves to be noted as the best playwright of all time? Does another individual deserve this merit?
Who was the original “William Shakespeare”? There is speculation that the Stratford-upon-Avon man could not have been the playwright, because there is no concrete evidence revealing that he had the intelligence to write such complex plays (PBS). It is not known whether William Shakespeare went to school, since there are no records of his attendance (PBS). If William Shakespeare was the original playwright, then why were his manuscripts not bequeathed in his will? The only possible explanation that validates the name “Shakespeare” is if it was used as a pen name. With this in mind, could “Shakespeare” be Edward De Vere, seventeenth Earl of Oxford, or Sir Francis Bacon? One piece of evidence rules out William Shakespeare as a candidate to be credited for the writings, as well as Sir Francis Bacon. The following fact must be considered:
In 1609 the Sonnets were published in a pirated edition. The famous dedication describes the author as ‘our ever living’, a phrase which was invariable used of he dead. (A Short Life)

When looking at the deaths of the three men, it is evident that De Vere was the only one of the three who actually died before the publication of the sonnets. Shakespeare died in 1616 (A&E), Bacon in 1626 (Francis Bacon), and De Vere in 1604 (A Short Life). When looking further into the life of De Vere, it can be seen that he was referred to as a great writer of poems and comedies, yet, there were no comedies attached to his name (PBS). Was this because he was trying to protect his identity, due to the content found in the Shakespearean writings? How would De Vere pick a name to mask his own? When “he was men...