|
|
Phase
1 - Background: Something for Everyone
6.
Consider the logic/illogic of each position and evaluate the effectiveness of
each argument
|
Author |
Pros
|
Cons |
|
William
Shakspere |
However
not sure if education because no school records |
Country
boy; no education |
|
Edward
de Vere |
Well
educated; aristocrat; penchant for poetry |
No
hard proof except for dates, which are uncertain |
|
Sir
Francis Bacon |
Mark
Twain believed Bacon was Shakespere Author,
lawyer, scientist, statesmen |
Based
on few opinions |
|
Roger
Manners |
Had
friends w/ some of the names found in the plays Danish connection |
Only
proof of him in one play |
|
Christopher
Marlowe |
Professional
author and proven playwrite |
Said
that he died before any plays were published |
|
William
Stanley |
Coat
of arms has an eagle – “man of eagle” reffered to in plays |
Eagle
is a common symbol of strength |
Use the Internet information linked below to answer the basic questions of who? what? where?
when? why? and
how? Be creative in exploring the information so that you answer these
questions as fully and insightfully as you can.
1. What is the Shakespeare authorship problem?
People believe that William Shakespeare did not in fact write the many poems
attributed to his name because there are no manuscripts, poems, letters,
diaries, or records in his own hand. His will, dictated to a lawyer, makes no
mention of a literary legacy and who should inherit it.
2. What literary, cultural, and political figures doubt that Shakespeare was
the sole author of the work?
The debate hums on both sides of the
3. Make a chronological history of the doubts that surround the authorship of
the Shakespearean canon.
1728
-
Publication
of Captain Goulding's Essay Against Too Much Reading in which he comments on
the background Shakespeare would require for his historical plays and suggests
that Shakespeare probably had to keep "one of those chuckle-pated
Historians for his particular Associate...or he might have starvd upon his
History." Goulding tells us that he had this from "one of his
(Shakespeare's) intimate Acquaintance."
1769
-
Publication
of The Life and Adventures of Common Sense, an anonymous allegory which
describes a profligate Shakespeare casting "his Eye upon a common place
Book, in which was contained, an Infinite Variety of Modes and Forms, to
express all the different Sentiments of the human Mind, together with Rules for
their Combinations and Connections upon every Subject or Occasion that might
Occur in Dramatic Writing..."
1785
-
Rev.
James Wilmot, D.D. attributed authorship to Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam.
1786
-
The
Story of the Learned Pig , an anonymous allegory by an "Officer of the
Royal Navy," in which The Pig describes himself as having variously been a
greyhound, deer, bear and a human being (after taking possession of a body) who
worked as horseholder at a playhouse where he met the "Immortal Shakespeare"
who's he reports didn't "run his country for deer-stealing" and
didn't father the various plays, Hamlet, Othello, As You Like It, The Tempest ,
and Midsummer's Night Dream. Instead the Pig confesses to be author.
1848
-
In
The Romance of Yachting by Joseph C. Hart, a former American consul at
1852
-
August
issue of Chambers' Edinburgh Journal contained an anonymous article, 'Who Wrote
Shakespeare" The author suggests that Shakespeare "kept a poet."
1856
-
Bacon
is proposed as author of Shakespeare's plays in Putnam's Monthly (January
issue) which contained "Shakespeare and His Plays: An Inquiry Concerning
Them" by Delia Bacon, an American bearing no family relationship to
Francis Bacon.
1857
-
Publication
of The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded, a book by Delia Bacon
in which she considers the possibility of several authors. Nathanial
1891/92
-
James
Greenstreet, a British archivist, in a series of essays in The Genealogist,
proposed that William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby was author of the Shakespeare
plays.
1892
-
Our
English Homer listed several writers as a group who were responsible for
writing Shakespeare's works: Marlowe, Greene, Peele, Nashe, Lodge, Bacon and
others.
1895
-
It
Was Marlowe: A Story of the Secret of Three Centuries, a novel by Wilbur
Ziegler, proposed that Marlowe, Raleigh, and the Earl of Rutland were authors
of the Shakespearean canon.
1903
-
Henry
James in a letter to Miss Violet Hunt says "I am 'a sort of' haunted by
the conviction that the divine William is the biggest and most successful fraud
ever practised on a patient world."
1908
-
Sir
George Greenwood, scholar and Member of Parliament, exposed the major arguments
and scholarship against the
1910
-
Bacon
Is Shakespeare by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (New York, John McBride Co.) cited
arguments that Bacon is Shakespeare and that the following are distinguished
men who perceived "the truth respecting the real authorship of the
Plays:"
--Lord
Palmerston, British statesman, 1784-1865.
--Lord
Houghton, British statesman, 1809-1885 (better known as Richard Monckton Milnes).
--
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British critic and poet, 1772-1834
--John
Bright, British statesman, 1811-1889 ("Any man that believes that William
Shakespeare of
--Ralph
Waldo Emerson, American philosopher and poet, 1803-1882
--John
Greenlief Whittier, American poet, 1807-1892 ("Whether Bacon wrote the
wonderful plays or not, I am quite sure the man Shakspere neither did nor
could.")
--Dr.
W. H. Furness, eminent American scholar and father of the editor of the
Variorum, 1802-1891 ("I am one of the many who have never been able to
bring the life of William Shakepeare and the plays of Shakespeare within
planetary space of each other.")
--Mark
Twain, American author and humorist, 1835-1910
--Prince
Otto von Bismarck, 1815-1898
1915
-
The
Derbyite theory, suggesting that William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby was the
true author behind the Shakespeare name, was revived by Robert Fraser in The
Silent Shakespeare.
1919
-
Abel
Lefranc, a French scholar, also supports the Derbyite theory in his Sous le
Masque de "William Shakespeare": William Stanley, VI Comte de Derby.
1920
- J. Thomas Looney, British schoolmaster and scholar, evolved the theory of
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford as author in his book, "Shakespeare"
Identified in Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford.
1922
-
The
Shakespeare Fellowship, an organization devoted to research on the
Shakespearean authorship, is formed with honorary president Sir George
Greenwood, and officers including J. T. Looney, Colonel B. R. Ward (father of
the biographer of Edward de Vere) and Abel Lefranc.
1926
-
Sigmund
Freud adopts J. Thomas Looney's theory on the 17th Earl of Oxford. (One of
Freud's teachers, Theodor Meynert, had believed in Bacon as the true author.)
Freud later confirmed this advocacy in 1935 with the revision of his
Autobiographical Study.
1930
-
Canon
Gerald Rendall,
1930
-
Eva
Turner Clark publishes a book, Shakespeare's Plays in the Order of Their
Writing, which proposes that the 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the plays and at a
much earlier date than supposed.
1943
-
Alden
Brooks advocates the candidacy of Sir Edward Dyer as author in his book, Will
Shakspere and the Dyer's Hand.
1952
-
Dr.
A. W. Titherley, onetime dean of the faculty of science at the
1955
-
Calvin
Hoffman in his book, The Murder of the Man Who Was "Shakespeare",
reawakened interest in the theory that Christopher Marlowe was author of
Shakespeare's plays.
1956
-
George
Elliot Sweet's Shakespeare the Mystery presents the case for Queen Elizabeth as
author.
1957
- present
Incorporation of the Shakespeare
1962
-
Historian
Hugh Trevor-Roper in Realites ( Nov. 1962) says,
"One-hundredth part of the labor (expended on Shakespeare's curriculum
vitae) applied to one of his insignificant contemporaries would be sufficient
to produce a substantial biography."
1964
-
Justice
Wilberforce in a court case in
1975
Reprint publication of Looney's Shakespeare Identified (edited by
Ruth Loyd Miller) from Minos Publishing.
1984
Publication
of Charlton Ogburn's The Mysterious William Shakespeare results in a burst of
new interest in the authorship that continues today
1987
The
Moot Court Debate in
1989
Broadcast
on PBS' Frontline of The Shakespeare Mystery further increases awareness and
interest in the authorship debate.
1994-
The
new technology of the Internet provides electronic forums and electronic
publishing for the Shakespeare Oxford Society to reach increasing numbers of
people, especially students, around the world.
1995
A
Shakespeare Oxford Society Home Page and a new electronic magazine (The Ever
Reader) are started on the World Wide Web, bringing the authorship resources
and news of the debate to a global audience. Teachers at both the high school
and college level increasingly have class assignments on the authorship debate
and use the Internet as a primary resource for up-to-date information.
1997
The
Edward de Vere Studies Conference is founded by Dr. Daniel L. Wright (Head,
Department of English) at
http://www.shakespeare-oxford.com/histdoub.htm
Beginner's
Guide to the Shakespeare Authorship Problem
4. Now do the same for the doubts surrounding the Stratfordian attribution.
5. Consider the logic/illogic of each position and evaluate the
effectiveness of each argument.
6. Make a list of the six contenders for the authorship question. Then add to
each as much significant evidence that is presented
Use the Internet information linked below to
answer these questions specifically related to MARLOWE WROTE SHAKESPEARE:
1. What association to Shakespeare is presented by the
Marlowe Society that leads one to believe that Christopher Marlowe's death is
associated with Shakespeare's writings?
Marlowe was a secret agent at his time and performed different tasks for the
Queen during a time of Catholic and Protestant quarrels. Marlowe was soon found
absent, although we do not have much evidence to support this because proper
records were not kept at the place where Marlowe lived. Rumors went back home
that Marlowe had become a Catholic convert, authorities withheld his right to
receive his degree. However, the Queen wanted Marlowe to be able to receive his
degree, as well as recognition for completing tasks he was sent to do as an
agent. He was in fact on a mission to uncover a secret plot against the Queen.
2. What role did the British government play in Marlowe's death?
3. Was Marlowe really a heretic?
Marlowe was in fact not a heretic. A man named Thomas Kyde was imprisoned
for writing a treatise agreement and was accused of Atheism. After being
tortured for quite some time, Kyde said that it was not his paper that they
found, but Marlowe’s that had gotten mixed in with his papers. Many things were
published that denounced Marlowe’s name and not Kyde’s, but Marlow was already
presumed dead and could not defend his name. When tests were later performed on
the paper, it proved to not be Marlowe’s handwriting and historians believe
that it was probably Kyde’s.
4. What similarities exist between Marlowe's writing and Shakespeare's writing?
(consider style and structure)
His translation and adaptation into blank verse of Lucan's Pharsalia
is one of the earliest English verses written in unrhymed iambic pentameter and
has influenced poets from Milton to Wordsworth. While still a university
student, Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus was produced in
In 1593 Marlowe was under investigation for heresy, a capital offense. Ten
days after having been questioned by the Privy Council, he was dead--or so it
was claimed. The extremely suspect report of his death has led many to wonder:
was Christopher Marlowe really murdered in 1593 or was an elaborate hoax
planned and executed by his friends in high places in order to save his life?
5. What type of logic/illogic is used to support these claims?
The
fact that Shakespeare and Marlowe both wrote in iamic pantemeter and produced
many great plays during there time is not enough basis to claim that Marlowe in
fact was Shakespeare under a different writing name.
WHO
WROTE SHAKESPEARE?
Use the Internet information linked below to answer these questions
specifically related to WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE?:
1. Find other candidates not already discovered in the background section
and list why they should be considered as contenders.
Other candidates include Francis Bacon, William Stanley, Earl of Derby; Ben
Johnson; Thomas Middleton; Sir Walter Raleigh (with or without collaboration
by Francis Bacon); and even Queen Elizabeth I herself. There have been
dozens of nominations since the Bard's death, and none have seriously
threatened to discredit the man from
represents the intellectual-elitist stratum of theorists, who believe that
anyone who didn't attend university could never have accomplished such
genius.
2. What is the controversy that surrounds Shakespeare's bust and its
inscription as it applies to Sir Francis Bacon?
In the late nineteenth century people who belived that Francis Bacon
wrote Shakespeare's plays (also known as Baconians) looked to the
inscription below the bust of William Shakespeare in the Collegiate
Church of the Holy Trinity at
this inscription lies a ciphered message that tells Bacon is the true
author. The original inscription was in mixed capitals and lower
case, and also had some other unusual letter usages. Unfortunately,
the original inscription crumbled and was replaced, with correct
grammar, around 1830, so only second-hand copies of the original
cipher exist.
3. What did Mark Twain have to say about the debate issue?
He said that he only BELIEVED Bacon wrote Shakespeare, whereas I KNEW
Shakespeare didn't.
4. Why should the Marlowe spy theory be reviewed?
The Marlowe spy theory should be reviewed because it is a possibility just
like all of the other theories about the true Shakespeare. It is possible
that his death was faked so he could assist in writing the plays.
5. How has technology, most notably the computer, made its presence known in
this controversy?
Computer analysis was done on the Bard work. It went against all of the
main theories that there were other authors than Shakespeare.
6. What type of logic/illogic is used to support these claims?
There is illogic used to explain the possibility of Christopher Marlowe
being the author behind Shakespeare. It is not very likely that Marlowe
lived on secretly just to write Shakespeare's plays. It is logical that
Shakespeare probably did have help in his plays. It is not likely that he
would be able to write so many works.
Phase
1
Background
4. Now do the same for the doubts surrounding the Stratfordian attribution.
5. Consider the logic/illogic of each position and evaluate the
effectiveness of each argument.
6. Make a list of the six contenders for the authorship question. Then add to
each as much significant evidence that is presented.
Chronological history of the doubts that surround the authorship of
the stratfordian attribution.
6.
William Shakspere, the actor from Stratsford, Edward de Vere, the Earl of
Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Christopher Marlowe, William Stanley,
the Earl of Derby, Roger Manners, the Earl of Rutland
William
Shakspere- Some say a country boy with only a grammar
school education could not have written the plays and poems. Ben Jonson's
dedicatory poem to the First Folio calls William Shakespeare the "Swan of
Avon." But the Countess of Pembroke, Sir Philip Sidney's sister, also
lived on the
Edward
de Vere--educated aristocrat with a penchant for poetry, and one of his crests
shows a lion shaking a broken spear
Sir
Francis Bacon-a philosopher, scientist, lawyer, and statesman. He was the
author of The New Atlantis, Novum Organum.
Christopher
Marlowe-Cynics say he was killed in 1593, at the age of 29, before any of
Shakespeare's plays had been published; realists say he was a spy who lived on
in secrecy scribbling away at Shakespeare's plays
William
Stanley-Edmund Spenser's Colin Clouts come home
againe addresses a contemporary poet using the name "Aetion,"
meaning "Man of the Eagle." Aetion is traditionally identified with
Shakespeare
Roger
Manners-During this period,
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~rtatum/shakespeare/#Stratford
Shakspere
wrote Shakespeare
1.
There is no direct evidence of the marriage of William Shakespeare to Anne
Hathaway although most historians accept that an entry in the Bishop's Register
at
http://www.stratford.co.uk/hislife/home.html
2.
The likeness of the author that would emerge from these studies was of a highly
educated man versed in law and classical literature, fluent in several
languages, equally at home at court and on the Continent. Oxfordians question
not merely whether Shakespeare had enough education to be the author of the
plays but whether he had any education at all. Wilmot was the first to discover
that there is no record of Shakespeare's having attended the
Is
Shakespeare indeed the only actor not mentioned? We also do not find the actors
Richard Burbage, John Heminge, Henry Condell, and other players who had
performed at the Rose with Lord Strange's Men and, with the addition of
Shakespeare, were to be the nucleus of the Chamberlain's Men. Nor are the
dramatists in the first wave of
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/shakes/matus.htm
1.
Many authorities have made claims that De Vere more than anyone is most
closely related to being the author of the
Shakespearean collection. Why?
Because
some of the works that Shakespeare wrote had a little De Vere
personality in it. Many people believe that
"Those who believe de Vere was
Shakespeare must accept an improbable hoax, a
conspiracy of silence
involving, among others, Queen Elizabeth
herself." Edward de Vere did
memorialize the words "Thy Will Shakes
Spears" and later retired to the
country to write secretly for 15 years.
The Oxfordians maintain that the life of Edward
de Vere - poet, highly
educated courtier, adventurer and
does fit with the extraordinary range of
knowledge reflected in the work of
Shakespeare
2.
What are some of the coincidental connections between the Earl of Oxford
and Shakespeare? Are these connections strong
enough to support Oxfordian
Claims?
The
accumulating evidence that "Shakespeare" was actually the pen-name of
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and it
presented some of Stritmatter's
de Vere/Shakespeare biblical resonances. The
fact that De Vere's pen name ol
was Shakspeare is very coincidental and it might
be enough evidence if you
include other proofs that De Vere was the author
of the works.
3. What
problems exist between the authorship of the Shakespearean poems and plays?
1)
that his death in 1604 bars him from writing several
plays they believe (but cannot prove) were written later, and
2)
that the quality of de Vere's published early poetry
is inferior to that of Shakespeare.
4. What similarities exist between deVere's writing and Shakespeare's
writing? (consider style and structure)
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was a recognized poet and playwright of
great talent, and although no play under
-The
six-line pentameter stanzas in Venus and Adonis described by
"Shakespeare" as the "first heir of my invention," occur
commonly in extant early poetry of Edward de Vere but almost no where else in
the English verse of the 16th century."
-Studies
of
The Shakespeare plays and poems show that the author had specific knowledge
of certain works of literature, certain prominent persons in
-Venus
and Adonis, for examples indicates not only a knowledge
of Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses but of the original
as well, since Venus and Adonis translates many of Ovid's lines
omitted by Golding. Arthur Golding was the Earl of Oxford's uncle and lived in
the Cecil household during the time that
-
-
-Christopher
Hatton, Vice-Chamberlain, is satirized as Malvolio ("ill Will") in Twelfth
Night. Hatton's letter to Queen Elizabeth is even parodied in the play.
(Hatton was one of
In the sonnets and the plays there are frequent references to events that
are paralleled in
-
-Polonius
in Hamlet refers to "young men falling out at tennis," which
most likely refers to the infamous Oxford-Sidney tennis-court quarrel.
-Because
of injuries suffered in a duel
-In
1573 Oxford as a young man, along with his companions, was reported as playing
pranks and tricks on travellers along the same stretch of road "between
Rochester and Gravesend" where Prince Hal's pals from the Boar's Head
Tavern did likewise in Henry IV, Part 1. (And it is also interesting
to note here that the Vere family crest featured a blue boar.)
-
-The
details of Hamlet, one of "Shakespeare's" greatest
achievements, are so similar to those of
In the Renaissance period in
-Pallas
Athena, patron goddess of ancient
-
-At
court
-Thomas
Nashe may have been referring to his patron
Miscellaneous considerations.
-The
reference by Ben Jonson to Shakespeare as "Sweet Swan of Avon' in the First
Folio has been put forward to exclude any other candidate than William
Shakspere of
-Upon