The Shakespeare Authorship Debate
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.
William Shakespeare’s work is known throughout the world and has been performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years. And yet, the personal history of William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery. There are two main sources that provide us with a basic outline of his life. One source is through the plays, poems and sonnets he wrote, and the other source is from official documents, such as church and court records. But these sources can give only so much, they only tell us about specific events that happened that happened in his life, not much about the person experiencing them. William Shakespeare was a successful poet and playwright during the Elizabethan era, and became the most popular dramatist of his age.
Was it William Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare was one of the most memorable play writers in history. However, William may have been given false credit. Many people believe that he may not author the plays.
In conclusion, this essay discussed a couple of the theories that William Shakespeare was not the true author of the extensive works with his name on them. William Shakespeare, though there is not a lot of evidence, wrote the works and people should be happy that we have the works. William Shakespeare was not tried as being the author until at least 150 years after his death. William Shakespeare has left evidence of his will and his house, which can still be visited to this day. William Shakespeare was neither Bacon nor De Vere but he was his own individual person. All of the theories forgot to think about the time in which the plays were written, the amount of time the author had to write these long fascinating works, and whether William Shakespeare did or did not exist.
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.
The big question is who is the real author of Shakespeare? Most people say that’s obvious and say Shakespeare, but is that the real case. Well, in this case they are wrong. The real author of the Shakespeare is Edward de Vere. The evidence is in the education, mysterious behavior, information saying Shakespeare wasn’t the real author, Shakespeare being the undercover name, and the clues that Oxford is the real author.
The Northern Renaissance began after 1500, when scholars and merchants in northern Europe supported Renaissance ideas. The Northern Renaissance writers also supported and adopted the idea of humanism, but gave humanism more of a religious opinion (Adams 14). One of the famous northern writers is William Shakespeare. Many people say that he is the best playwright ever. Shakespeare's life can be separated into his young years, marriage, play years, and late years.
Was the man we know as Shakespeare really the author of the "Shakespearean Works"? We know little about the man called Shakespeare, Did he really write the plays, or is he just a man that got confused within history? (Sobran 44) There is not even a correct spelling of this mans name, Some of the spellings include Shakspere, Shakespeare, And Shaxpere. Shakespeare, Is it the man, Or is it another? (Hayes 1D) Shakespeare is both fact and fiction, he was no concern until nearly two hundred years after he perished, and there is still no definite or probably will there ever be a conclusion to this mystery. (Sobran 44) There is another man that can be attributed with the works of "Shakespeare", His name is Edward DeVere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. (Bethell 47) The man known as Shakespeare does not fit perfectly into the necessary criteria to determine the author of these works. Thomas Looney invented a series of criteria that had to be filled, in order to be a possible candidate for the authorship of the Shakespearean works. To have all the knowledge that is portrayed in the works, the author must have accomplished many things. These including a superior education, from what we know of "Shakespeare", this was not a possibility.(Bethell 46) We do not even know if Shakespeare has ever written anything in his life, Nor do we know that he was paid for writing these works. The man Shakespeare does not even make a claim that he is the author.
William Shakespeare was best known for his play the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare was born April 26, 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Shakespeare in Stratford- Upon- Avon, United Kingdom. The first indication that he was going be a writer was when he wrote the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Three interesting facts about William Shakespeare are Shakespeare is most often referred to as elizabethan playwright, most of Shakespeare's plays were performed in the Globe Theater, Shakespeare wore a gold hoop earring.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare. William attended his town's local grammar school at age six and graduated ten years later. When he was eighteen, he married a woman named Anne Hathaway who gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet drowned a few years later. It is said that William named his famous play Hamlet after his son and included a drowning scene in his honor. After the loss of his son, William left his family behind and headed for London to write plays. He was a poet and playwright. He wrote many famous plays, including Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. His stories were very popular with the English people because some of them were about English kings, like Henry IV. One of the characters from Henry IV was Falstaff, a drunk and crude knight. People liked him so much that William wrote another play using Falstaff, entitled The Merry Wives of Windsor. Shakespeare lived during the Renaissance period, and was one of the most influential playwrights of his time.