What If Shakespeare Wasn't Really Shakespeare?
This is the plot of the new movie Anonymous, but the Shakespeare authorship question has been around for more than 200 years. The historical Shakespeare didn't leave much of a paper trail - and some people believe he lacked the education and experience to write such masterpieces of English literature as Hamlet and Macbeth.
Many different people have been proposed as the true author of his works - Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, and even Queen Elizabeth herself!
Anonymous is about Edward de Vere - the 17th Earl of Oxford and most popular candidate for a secret Shakespeare. "Oxfordians" think him a more likely author and see parallels between his life and Shakespeare's plays.
Most Shakespeare scholars are "Stratfordians" - believe that Shakespeare
wrote Shakespeare - but who doesn't love a good conspiracy theory? The alternative is a compelling idea that continues to capture the imagination of scholars, readers, and now - Hollywood.
If you'd like to learn more:
- Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James S. Shapiro
- "Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere by Mark Anderson
- Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt
- "Shakespeare" Identified in Edward de Vere by J. Thomas Looney
- Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare? by Robin Williams
Illustrations: possible portrait of William Shakespeare & portrait of Edward de Vere