Shakespeare is well known
as one of the greatest poets and play writes of all-time, and certainly one of
the most influential. But how much of what we think is his work is actually
somebody else’s? This question is often referred to as the “authorship question.”
Did Shakespeare write all of what we think he did? Or has this conspiracy been
held true for 450 years?
One theory which is very common
is the Oxfordian theory, who oppose the Stratfordians. The people who consider themselves
Stratfordians believe in Shakespeare as a writer, while the Oxfordians believe
that we have been lied to throughout history. Oxfordians believe that a man
named Edward de Vere of Oxford (1550-1604) wrote many of the plays Shakespeare
claimed for his own. Many of the arguments made by the Oxfordians are based
upon simple facts about Edward—the fact that he has a multilingual education,
he has traveled abroad to places which later become settings of Shakespeare’s
plays, his academic achievements, etc. All of which would lead him to be considered
a more intelligent man and more fit for play writing and being a poet. Aside
from Edward’s inside connection to the theater and people who ran it, the
Oxfordians also point to the content of Shakespeare’s play, and how it matches
up almost perfectly with events from Edward’s biography. There are plenty of
the same idioms and play-on-words in both artists’ works, and personal events
of Edward’s later described in detail in Shakespeare’s sonnets and poems.
Perhaps the most bizarre similarity between these two is the fact that there
are multiple quotations straight from Edward’s personal bible that can be found
throughout Shakespeare’s plays. The last point made by Oxfordians to state
their point, is the death years of the two men. Edward died in 1604, and
Shakespeare died in 1609. Which seems pretty normal, with nothing suspicious.
But after doing more research, you can find that 1604 was the year that Shakespeare
stopped publishing new material at the same rate he was, and experienced a
huge drop off in his production.
After gathering all of this data, I have come to believe that all of these thought of conspiracies are just thought up. I do not know how to explain all of these coincidences, but there are a lot that can be easily rebutted. For example, all of the similarities can be explained by pointing out that Shakespeare was a huge fan of these writers, in which case they had influenced his work a lot. But that is just what I have gathered after a lot of research. So after all of this information, do you think that the Oxfordian theory, the Marlowe theory, or neither is the real truth? Also, why do you think if any of this was true, would it be covered up and disguised by an uneducated man from a infamous artist's background?
"Oxfordian Theory." Princeton University. Princeton University, 05 July 2008. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
PBS. "In Search Of Shakespeare." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
"Christopher Marlowe." Christopher Marlowe. The Shakespeare Authorship Trust, n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
