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.(Bethell 50) He may not have been able to write the simplest thing of all, His own name.(Hayes 1D) Last Name 2 Its not how little we know about Shakespeare that causes confusion and difficulty, Its the things that we do know about this man that cause the confusion and difficulty. We know Shakespears father, a glover, could not write. When he signed documents, he simply made an "X" , This is why it is beleived that Shakespeare could not write also, Because he probably did not attend school therefore his education was passed down from his father. (Bethell 48) We do know much more about the man Edward DeVere. We know that because deVere was a nobleman, he could not have his name written upon his writings because he would be considered of a lower class. The plays contain a sense of hate towards some of the noblemen of that time period, which also point the authorship towards DeVere.
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.
William Shakespeare is possibly the greatest English writer every to live. Many people all around the world enjoy reading his plays. Often in his plays, Shakespeare describes things like lifestyle and laws of his time period. However, some people claim that Shakespeare’s plays are not historically accurate and therefore, mislead the people who read his plays. So how can one determine if Shakespeare is accurate or not? Well, one could ask, what was the social class like, what personal experiences did Shakespeare have, and what were some laws that governed the time.
It is often a subject of debate amongst literary scholars and to this day it is a great mystery to the world. This question has many possible answers. Among the most likely are Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and, of course, William Shakespeare. There are a few other mentioned possibilities, but there is so little evidence for them that they do not appear worthy of mention. Each of the proposed authors have different traits and their own pieces of evidence suggesting that they are the true authors of Shakespeare, but only one theory can be true, or can they? Is it possible that there is more than one author of Shakespeare's work? These lead to the biggest question, however. Who really wrote the famous works of Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare’s intellectual use of the English language is what brought him prosperity throughout his lifetime, and what brings us to tears and laughter in the modern world. The life of Shakespeare is of great importance to English literature because of his many contributions including poetry, stories, and plays. However, many people do not know that he also owned a business. “William Shakespeare was a professional actor, a businessman, and a playwright. Today, nearly four hundred years after his death his plays are still performed” (Greenhill and Wignall 4).
When education is concerned, no one truly knew whether or not Shakespeare wrote his plays. According to the article “The Education of William Shakespeare”, “William Shakespeare would have attended King Edwards VI Grammar school in Stratford-Upon-Avon.” ("The Education Of William Shakespeare” sec. 1). On the contrary, an article written by Dutch Steven states, “Shakespeare was not educated enough and Stratford- Upon-Avon was too backward of a place to have produced a play write of such caliber.” (Dutch, Steven para. 1). Needless to say, the true education of William Shakespeare cannot be determined because the evidence proving his schooling contradicts itself. If the true records of Shakespeare’s education were found, would it prove he wrote the plays? Why are the records of his education scrambled and inconclusive? This leads readers to believe different stories that may or may not be valid. Therefore, there is not solid evidence that Shakespeare had a strong enough education to author such elaborate plays. To conclude, there is not solid evidence that Shakespeare authored the plays.
There seems to be a great discussion on whether or not Shakespeare is the true author of the plays associated with his name. The internet seems to be full of essays, discussion boards and book reviews all dealing with this particular topic and most of the people submitting them are very forceful and definitive about their positions. In just a few hours of searching I found well over a thousand pages dealing with the original source of the works of art assigned to Shakespeare's name. The most disappointing part was that none of the essays I read even suggested the possibility of Shakespeare just "borrowing" information and topics from other playwrights and authors. They were all mainly interested in the man who actually put the words on paper. Not only did this decrease their usefulness for this particular paper but also they made it seem like the person who wrote the plays down on paper had some particular lawful ownership over them. This was not true though.
One of the largest mysteries of current time is the debate over who the author of the plays commonly attributed to William Shakespeare really is. Commonly termed as the “authorship problem,” many skeptics believe that the William Shaksper of Stratford (the spelling of his name originally) could not have been the true composer of the plays he is traditionally attributed with. Although the thought of someone besides Shakespeare composing the plays is not popular with the American and European world, there are excessive theories concerning the truth behind the possibility of the works being authentically his.
Wheeler, Kip L. “Did Shakespeare Really Write Shakespeare?” Http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/shake_did_Write_plays.html. N.p. 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
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 Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works under the name of William Shakespeare. Some people say that Shakespeare was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason didn’t want the fame or the public interest. The authorship question was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century. Very little is known of Shakespeare’s personal life. The lack of biographic information has sometimes been taken as an indication of an attempt by government officials to get rid of all traces of Shakespeare from the historical record and to conceal the true author’s identity. For example, a lack of attendance records for Stratford’s grammar school is taken as suggesting that they have been destroyed...
A heart felt tragedy and a whimsical comedy looking past the fictional of fairies and extreme use of over melodramatic language, both works are held by a factual anchor. Both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream take place during the Renaissance era, written by William Shakespeare. His writings have also been known to reflect the culture of the time era. Both Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are historically accurate to a large extent because of the settings, the allusions to history, and the realistic characters that Shakespeare incorporates into his plays.
So to conclude, we can safely agree with most academics that William Shakespeare did exist and that he did indeed write the 37 plays and 154 sonnets credited to him.
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.
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.
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.