There was another Shakespeare who had claimed to had written his works. De Vere�s works were inferior to Shakespeare�s writings.
2. What literary, cultural, and political figures doubt that Shakespeare was the sole author of the work?
The literary, cultural, and political figures who doubt that Shakespeare was the sole author of the work include Delia Bacon, Mr. Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Charlie Chaplin, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sigmund Freud, Sir John Gielgud, Leslie Howard, Sir Derek Jacobi, Henry James, Malcolm X, David McCullough, Orson Welles, and many more.
3. Make a chronological history of the doubts that surround the authorship of the Shakespearean canon.
The Shakespeare Oxford Society argues two related propositions:
1) It is quite unlikely that Shakespeare's works could have been composed by the person to whom they are traditionally assigned.
2) The qualifications necessary for the true author of these works are more adequately realized in the person of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, than in the many other candidates proposed in the past two hundred years.
Stratfordian scholars rely on three main points:
1) the prefatory "testimony" of the First Folio of Shakespeare's works published in the year of 1623, seven years after the Stratford citizen's death,
2) the sundry collections of "traditions" later published by many so-called "ancient witnesses" (none of them, however, boasting of personal acquaintance with the putative "author")
3) the lack of any challenge to this attribution during the century proceeding Shakspere's death.
4. Now do the same for the doubts surrounding the Stratfordian attribution.
1) that de Vere�s death in the year of 1604 bars him from writing several plays they believe (but cannot prove) were written later, and
2) that the quality of Edward de Vere's published early poetry is less than that of Shakespeare.
5. Consider the logic/illogic of each position and evaluate the effectiveness of each argument.
I think that all of the positions put on a good argument that really makes you question who wrote the work. One of the facts that I do not really support is �de Vere�s death in the year of 1604 bars him from writing several plays they believe (but cannot prove) were written later.� I do not generally support this �fact� since the people who think this cannot prove that de Vere�s death barred him from writing several of plays.
6. Make a list of the six contenders for the authorship question. Then add to each as much significant evidence that is presented.
Marlow, Bacon, de Vere, Derby, Shakespeare, and James Wilmot are the six contenders for the authorship question.