Web Quest: Phase 1 � Background
1. What is the Shakespeare authorship problem?
No on has definitive proof that Shakespeare actually wrote the plays that are accredited to him.
2. What literary, cultural, and political figures doubt that Shakespeare was the sole author of the work?
Rev. James Wilmot spent four years trying to link the work that he�s know for doing is actually his. Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, the Earl of Burford and direct descendant of Edward de Vere believes that his ancestors wrote the plays under the hyphenated pseudonym Shake-Speare.
3. Make a chronological history of the doubts that surround the authorship of the Shakespearean canon.
In 1852, an anonymous article was put out that suggests that Shakespeare should remain a poet. In 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. In 1915, The Derbyite theory, suggest4d that William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby was the true author behind the Shakespeare name, was revived by Robert Fraser in The Silent Shakespeare. In 1919 Abel Lefranc, a French scholar, also supported the Derbyite theory in his Sous le Masque de "William Shakespeare": William Stanley, VI Comte de Derby. In 1930, Eva Turner Clark published a book, Shakespeare's Plays in the Order of Their Writing. It proposes the idea that the 17th Earl of Oxford wrote the plays and at a much earlier date than supposed
4. The doubts surrounding the Stratfordian attribution:
1. �The first indication that the author of Shakespeare's plays came from Stratford appears, ambiguously, in the prefatory materials of the 1623 First Folio�
2. �The author of Shakespeare's works had to be familiar with a wide body of knowledge for his time --on such subjects as law, music, foreign languages, the classics, and aristocratic manners and sports. There is no documentation that William Shakspere of Stratford had access to such information.�
3. �The only specimens of William Shakspere's handwriting to come down to us are six almost illegible signatures, each formed differently from the others, and each from the latter period of his life (none earlier than 1612). Three of these signatures are on his will, one is on a deposition in someone else's breach of promise case, and two are on property documents. None of these has anything to do with literature. The first syllable, incidentally, in all these signatures is spelled "Shak�, whereas the published plays and poems consistently spell the name "Shake".�
5. The illogical/logical points:
1. The arguments logical point is that: it is quite suspicious that Shakespeare�s work did not indicate it came from Stratford. The illogical point is that: we cannot know he intended that people know where the writing came from.
2. The arguments logical point is that: Shakespeare did not seem like he was the person that could have miraculously gotten around Europe in his life. The illogical point is that: we cannot possibly have all the records about what he has done in his life.
3. The arguments logical point is that: the different signatures suggest that a different person is writing these plays and signing these documents. The illogical point is that: authors never sign the signature they use for their credit card that they use for their book signing.
6. Possible Shakespeare cantidates:
1. Edward de Vere: well educated and well traveled nobleman, worked for queen Elizabeth I�s.
2. Francis Bacon: �Bacon proponents point toward Bacon's learning, his correspondences and memoirs (most notably, his notebook, Promus), as well as ciphers and other coincidences.�
3. Christopher Marlowe: wrote under the pen name Shakespeare, is claimed to have faked his death, and is really a spy for the crown.
4. William Stanley: possessed the university education, extensive European travel, knowledge of foreign languages, involvement with the theatre and literature, and familiarity with life in court necessary for authorship of the canon. Earl of Derby: man that got around Europe.
5. Elizabeth I: Created a group of theatrical writers that imposed propaganda on the people.
6. Mary Sidney Herbert: ran a literary academy.
SHAKESPEARE WROTE SHAKESPEARE
1. How is the spelling and pronunciation of Shakespeare's name important to investigate?
It was spelled many different ways which may mean that either someone else wrote it or he was looking out for himself and spelling every possible way so it was not mistaken that he was signing it.
2. What are the Oxfordian claims that Shakespeare is responsible for everything he produced? Can these claims be refuted?
3. Why is it important to preserve the authorship status of William Shakespeare?
So every knows who really wrote all of this literature and it can be accredited accordingly.
4. What is the most convincing evidence that leads us to believe that Shakespeare, did in fact, write Shakespeare?
Nobody can prove whole heartedly that anyone else has written Shakespeare, this allowing us to assume that Shakespeare really did write his work.