William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) was an English poet and playwright who has a reputation as one of the greatest of all writers in the English language and in Western literature, as well as one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists.

Identity and authorship

Main article: Shakespearean authorship

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As noted above, there is considerable historical evidence of the existence of a William Shakespeare who lived in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. The vast majority of academics identify this Shakespeare as the Shakespeare. Over the years however, such figures as Walt Whitman, Mark Twain ("Is Shakespeare Dead?"), Henry James, and Sigmund Freud have expressed disbelief that the man from Stratford-upon-Avon, christened William Shaksper or Shakspere, actually produced the works attributed to him. This scepticism is variously grounded: such as the lack of a single book to be found in his otherwise detailed will, the circumscribed social, education and travel opportunities available to the young author that could have served to prepare him, the differences in spellings of his name, the language of the works itself. Mainstream scholars consider all these supposed mysteries to be explicable. It is notable that doubts about Shakespeare's authorship of the plays emerged only in the nineteenth century, and were based in part on exaggerated beliefs in his lack of education then current. Prior to this, from the poet's time onward, opinion was unanimous that the author of "Shakespeare" was Shakespeare.

Related Topics:
Walt Whitman - Mark Twain - Henry James - Sigmund Freud

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Many attribute this debate to the scarcity and ambiguity of many of the historical records of this period. Various fringe scholars have suggested writers such as Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and even Queen Elizabeth I as alternative authors or co-authors for some or all of "Shakespeare's" work. These claims necessarily rely on conspiracy theories to explain the lack of direct historical evidence for them, although advocates of alternative authors point to evidentiary gaps in the orthodox history.

Related Topics:
Francis Bacon - Christopher Marlowe - Queen Elizabeth I - Conspiracy theories

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Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, an English nobleman and intimate of Queen Elizabeth, became the most prominent alternative candidate for authorship of the Shakespeare canon, after having been identified in the 1920s. Oxford partisans note the similarities between the Earl's life, and events and sentiments depicted in the plays and sonnets. Oxford had the documented education, travel and life experience that one might associate with works as broad and detailed as Shakespeare's. He was also contemporaneously identified as a poet and writer of some talent by Francis Meres (although Meres also separately lauds Shakespeare, whom he specifically credits as author of the Shakespeare plays). The principal hurdle for Oxfordian theory is the evidence that many of the Shakespeare plays were written after their candidate's death, but well within the lifespan of William Shakespeare.

Related Topics:
Edward de Vere - Earl of Oxford - Francis Meres

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The gifted playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe is considered by some to be the most highly qualified to write the works of Shakespeare, even though he was apparently dead. According to history, Marlowe was killed in 1593 by a group of men including Ingram Frizer, a servant of Lord Walsingham, Marlowe's patron. However, a theory has developed that Marlowe, who was facing an impending death penalty for heresy, was saved by the faking of his death only 10 days later, and that he subsequently wrote the works of Shakespeare.

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A related question in mainstream academia addresses whether Shakespeare himself wrote every word of his commonly-accepted plays, given that collaboration between dramatists routinely occurred in the Elizabethan theatre. Serious academic work continues to attempt to ascertain the authorship of plays and poems of the time, both those attributed to Shakespeare and others. See academic Shakespearean authorship debates.

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