The True Authorship of the Shakespearean Works

The True Authorship of the Shakespearean Works

Ask anyone who Shakespeare was, and he or she will immediately rattle off at least three different plays that were required readings in English, not to mention a few blockbuster movies bearing his name. Many revere the works of Shakespeare as paramount in the world of literature, dedicating entire books, classes and festivals to the study and celebration of his work. Although the ancient language is a common stumbling block for even the most seasoned readers, his varied tales of love, hate, fear, betrayal, laughter, defeat and victory are just as fitting today as they were four hundred years ago. He is amazingly timeless. Yet, while we might know what Shakespeare is, will we ever really know who Shakespeare was? Ah, there's the rub!

Much about the Bard is a mystery to even the most scholarly enthusiasts. The hard facts that are actually known about him could fill one neatly handwritten page, but what is speculated and complete legend could fill volumes of books. So, what is fact and what is fiction? According to the little documentation that chronicles his life, Shakespeare was not even a true 'Shakespeare' at all; he was born in April 1596 and entered in the baptismal record as "Gulielmus filius Johannis Shakspere." Even his actual date of birth is somewhat of a mystery. While we do know that he was baptized on April 26th, 1564, there is no existing record of his birth date. We can assume that he was born on April 23rd judging by the customary three-day period that most families waited before baptizing their children, but this is only speculation.

Since the records of the Stratford grammar school have not survived, we cannot prove that Shakespeare attended school. In all actuality, we have no evidence that he was even literate. His father had no educational training, so it is quite possible that he also lacked in schooling, but that's only guesswork. The next piece of hard information that we come across in our search is a register entry showing a Wm. Shaxpere being granted a license to marry Anne Whateley on November 27, 1582. The very next day this same register records a marriage bond issued to William Shagspere and Anne Hathwey. Six months later Anne gave birth to their first child, daughter Susanna Shakspere, and then in February 1585 she gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith.

It is presumed that Shakespeare made it to London around 1595 to begin his career in the theatre, but the exact date is not known for sure. Just as mysterious is his reason why he left his wife and children alone in Stratford. Sadly, Hamnet died in August of 1596, and from that point forward we have no more information regarding his family until 1616, the year of his death. There are enough legal documents and theatre records, though, to know that Shakespeare goes on to possess a generous amount of real estate, hold shares in an acting company that built the Globe Theatre, and become a principal player in the acting group The Kings Men (A Midsummer Night's Dream xxx-xxxi). There are many theories and stories floating around that seem to fill in the gaping holes in his timeline, but since this information doesn't appear in a register or on a playbill, we don't know what is fact or fiction.

On January 25th, 1616, Shakespeare signs his will in three places leaving the majority of his estate to his eldest daughter, Susanna, and his "second-best" bed to his wife (All Shakespeare). He died three months later on April 23rd, and was buried in Stratford, yet his name does not appear on the stone over his grave. According the the web site All Shakespeare, his supposed tombstone reads:

Good friend for Iesus Sake forbeare To dig the dust encloased heare: Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones And curst be he yet moves my bones.

It doesn't sound very Shakespearian, does it?

Seven years after his death his collected plays were published as Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the work now known as the First Folio) (Midsummer Night's Dream xxxii). Everything beyond this is myth and legend, which most certainly adds to the attraction of his works. His brilliant writing can only be enhanced by the mystery surrounding his life.

The question is, was it really his brilliant writing? Many theories exist regarding who the author really is, with over eighty Elizabethans put forward since the middle of the eighteenth century as the "true Shakespeare," including Queen Elizabeth herself. Only four have merited serious consideration, though: Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, William Stanley (Sixth Earl of Derby), and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (Shakespeare-Oxford). For the sake of space, (and personal preference), this paper will focus on the possibility of de Vere's authorship, as well as the limitations on Shakespeare's true authorship of the works.

Contrasting the life of William Shakespeare, much is known about the life of Edward de Vere. He was born on April 12th, 1550 in Essex at Castle Hedingham as the 17th Earl of Oxford. As in Hamlet, his mother remarried in haste upon his father's untimely death, making him ward of the court, and subsequently placed into the care of William Cecil (Lord Burghley), Lord Treasurer of England. As a teenager a Latin scholar (whose English translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses is the second most influential work for Shakespeare, next to the bible), tutored him. By the age of twenty, de Vere had received two masters' degrees from Queen's College in Cambridge, and studied law for three years at Gray's Inn. Once Cecil could wield power over the young Earl of Oxford, he broke off a previous marriage contract and instead betrothed him to his daughter Anne for the political advancement of the Cecil clan. Although the marriage produced three surviving daughters, it was not a happy one; Anne died in 1588 (Shakespeare-Oxford).

De Vere is listed as the first among the poets of the Elizabethan period, and was also an active dramatist at the time. He maintained a band of tumblers as well as two theatre companies, Oxford's Boys and Oxford's Men, throughout the 1580's. He held an ardent interest in learning, and had 33 works of literature dedicated to him. He had a passion for travel, was a patron to the arts, and generally was a favorite in the court. In short, he was well educated and traveled, and had a strong knowledge of the inner workings of the court. So far, he seems to be at least qualified to have written the works of Shakespeare.

In the early 1590's de

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