CW: Shakespearean BackgroundWorld History

Due Date: October 20th, 2014

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Biography: William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. The son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford, where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman seven or eight years his senior. Together they raised two daughters: Susanna, who was born in 1583, and Judith (whose twin brother died in boyhood), born in 1585.

Little is known about Shakespeare's activities between 1585 and 1592. Robert Greene's A Groatsworth of Wit alludes to him as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare may have taught at school during this period, but it seems more probable that shortly after 1585 he went to London to begin his apprenticeship as an actor. Due to the plague, the London theaters were often closed between June 1592 and April 1594. During that period, Shakespeare probably had some income from his patron, Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first two poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594). The former was a long narrative poem depicting the rejection of Venus by Adonis, his death, and the consequent disappearance of beauty from the world. Despite conservative objections to the poem's glorification of sensuality, it was immensely popular and was reprinted six times during the nine years following its publication.

In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's company of actors, the most popular of the companies acting at Court. In 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain's Men that would form a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse: the Globe, which became the most famous theater of its time. With his share of the income from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to purchase New Place, his home in Stratford.

While Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. Shakespeare's sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601, though not published until 1609. That edition, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, consists of 154 sonnets, all written in the form of three quatrains and a couplet that is now recognized as Shakespearean. The sonnets fall into two groups: sonnets 1-126, addressed to a beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man, and sonnets 127-152, to a malignant but fascinating "Dark Lady," whom the poet loves in spite of himself. Nearly all of Shakespeare's sonnets examine the inevitable decay of time, and the immortalization of beauty and love in poetry.

In his poems and plays, Shakespeare invented thousands of words, often combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes such words as: arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy, stillborn, watchdog, and zany.

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, his second tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to the form, writing the plays for which he is now best known: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In his final years, Shakespeare turned to the romantic with Cymbeline, A Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

Only eighteen of Shakespeare's plays were published separately in quarto editions during his lifetime; a complete collection of his works did not appear until the publication of the First Folio in 1623, several years after his death. Nonetheless, his contemporaries recognized Shakespeare's achievements. Francis Meres cited "honey-tongued" Shakespeare for his plays and poems in 1598, and the Chamberlain's Men rose to become the leading dramatic company in London, installed as members of the royal household in 1603.

Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in Stratford. He drew up his will in January of 1616, which included his famous bequest to his wife of his "second best bed." He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later at Stratford Church.

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The Plays Chronology of CompositionThe chronology of Shakespeare's plays is uncertain, but a reasonable approximation of their order can be inferred from dates of publication, references in contemporary writings, allusions in the plays to contemporary events, thematic relationships, and metrical and stylistic comparisons. His first plays are believed to be the three parts of Henry VI; it is uncertain whether Part I was written before or after Parts II and III. Richard III is related to these plays and is usually grouped with them as the final part of a first tetralogy of historical plays.

After these come The Comedy of Errors, Titus Andronicus (almost a third of which may have been written by George Peele), The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labour's Lost, and Romeo and Juliet. Some of the comedies of this early period are classical imitations with a strong element of farce. The two tragedies, Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, were both popular in Shakespeare's own lifetime. In Romeo and Juliet the main plot, in which the new love between Romeo and Juliet comes into conflict with the longstanding hatred between their families, is skillfully advanced, while the substantial development of minor characters supports and enriches it.

After these early plays, and before his great tragedies, Shakespeare wrote Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King John, The Merchant of Venice, Parts I and II of Henry IV, Much Ado about Nothing, Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. The comedies of this period partake less of farce and more of idyllic romance, while the history plays successfully integrate political elements with individual characterization. Taken together, Richard II, each part of Henry IV, and Henry V form a second tetralogy of historical plays, although each can stand alone, and they are usually performed separately. The two parts of Henry IV feature Falstaff, a vividly depicted character who from the beginning has enjoyed immense popularity.

The period of Shakespeare's great tragedies and the “problem plays” begins in 1600 with Hamlet. Following this are The Merry Wives of Windsor (written to meet Queen Elizabeth's request for another play including Falstaff, it is not thematically typical of the period), Troilus and Cressida, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, and Timon of Athens (the last may have been partially written by Thomas Middleton).

On familial, state, and cosmic levels, Othello, Lear, and Macbeth present clear oppositions of order and chaos, good and evil, and spirituality and animality. Stylistically the plays of this period become increasingly compressed and symbolic. Through the portrayal of political leaders as tragic heroes, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra involve the study of politics and social history as well as the psychology of individuals.

The last two plays in the Shakespearean corpus, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, may be collaborations with John Fletcher. The remaining four plays—Pericles (two acts of which may have been written by George Wilkins), Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest—are tragicomedies. They feature characters of tragic

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potential, but resemble comedy in that their conclusions are marked by a harmonious resolution achieved through magic, with all its divine, humanistic, and artistic implications.

Appeal and InfluenceSince his death Shakespeare's plays have been almost continually performed, in non-English-speaking nations as well as those where English is the native tongue; they are quoted more than the works of any other single author. The plays have been subject to ongoing examination and evaluation by critics attempting to explain their perennial appeal, which does not appear to derive from any set of profound or explicitly formulated ideas. Indeed, Shakespeare has sometimes been criticized for not consistently holding to any particular philosophy, religion, or ideology; for example, the subplot of A Midsummer Night's Dream includes a burlesque of the kind of tragic love that he idealizes in Romeo and Juliet.

The strength of Shakespeare's plays lies in the absorbing stories they tell, in their wealth of complex characters, and in the eloquent speech—vivid, forceful, and at the same time lyric—that the playwright puts on his characters' lips. It has often been noted that Shakespeare's characters are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, and that it is their flawed, inconsistent nature that makes them memorable. Hamlet fascinates audiences with his ambivalence about revenge and the uncertainty over how much of his madness is feigned and how much genuine. Falstaff would not be beloved if, in addition to being genial, openhearted, and witty, he were not also boisterous, cowardly, and, ultimately, poignant. Finally, the plays are distinguished by an unparalleled use of language. Shakespeare had a tremendous vocabulary and a corresponding sensitivity to nuance, as well as a singular aptitude for coining neologisms and punning.

Editions and SourcesThe first collected edition of Shakespeare is the First Folio, published in 1623 and including all the plays except Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen (the latter play also generally not appearing in modern editions). Eighteen of the plays exist in earlier quarto editions, eight of which are extremely corrupt, possibly having been reconstructed from an actor's memory. The first edition of Shakespeare to divide the plays into acts and scenes and to mark exits and entrances is that of Nicholas Rowe in 1709. Other important early editions include those of Alexander Pope (1725), Lewis Theobald (1733), and Samuel Johnson (1765).

Among Shakespeare's most important sources, Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587) is significant for the English history plays, although Shakespeare did not hesitate to transform a character when it suited his dramatic purposes. For his Roman tragedies he used Sir Thomas North's translation (1579) of Plutarch's Lives. Many times he rewrote old plays, and twice he turned English prose romances into drama (As You Like It and The Winter's Tale). He also used the works of contemporary European authors. For further information on Shakespeare's sources, see the table entitled Shakespeare's Play.

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The Globe Theater Early in 1599 Shakespeare, who had been acting with the Lord Chamberlain's Men since 1594, paid into the coffers of the company a sum of money amounting to 12.5 percent of the cost of building the Globe. He did so as a chief shareholder in the company, and by doing so he helped to establish a uniquely successful form of commercial operation for the actors of the time. This investment gave Shakespeare and the other leading actors both a share in the company's profits and a share in their playhouse.

At this time, officially approved playhouses and officially approved acting companies had been in existence in London for only five years. The Lord Chamberlain's Men was one of only two companies licensed to perform within the London city limits. (For more on this subject, see Sidebar: Shakespeare and the Liberties.) The other company used the Rose playhouse, owned by an impresario and his ex-actor son-in-law.

The second best playhouse Shakespeare's company built the Globe only because it could not use the special roofed facility, Blackfriars Theatre, that James Burbage (the father of their leading actor, Richard Burbage) had built in 1596 for it inside the city. The elder Burbage had a long history as a theatrical entrepreneur. In 1576 he had built the first successful amphitheatre, known as The Theatre, in a London suburb. Twenty years later, when the lease on The Theatre's land was about to expire, he built the theatre in Blackfriars as its replacement. But the wealthy residents of Blackfriars persuaded the government to block its use for plays, so Burbage's capital was locked up. He died early in 1597, his plans for the future of theatre in London frustrated.

Thus, the members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men were forced to rent a playhouse. At the end of 1598, they decided to build one for themselves. Because the inheritance of Burbage's sons, Cuthbert and Richard, was tied up in the Blackfriars, they formed a consortium with Shakespeare and four other actors, who became co-owners of the new Globe. The same shortage of cash made the consortium reluctant traditionalists; they gave up the idea of an indoor theatre in the city. The old playhouse was one of their few remaining resources, but they could not use it in situ because the lease had expired, so they dismantled it, took the timbers (illegally) to make the skeleton of their new amphitheatre, and kept the basic auditorium shape of The Theatre for the new building.

The success of the Globe For all its hurried construction in 1599, the Globe proved a triumph. Its first decade of use made it a favourite not just with subsequent generations of theatregoers but with the company itself. In later years the troupe paid a lot to keep it going. At least two circumstances provide evidence for this statement. In 1608, when the company could finally fulfill James Burbage's original plan for the Blackfriars, the members chose, extravagantly, to operate the two theatres together, using the open-air Globe in the summer and the roofed Blackfriars in the winter. Had they chosen to, they easily could have rented one of the buildings to another company, since there was a shortage of playhouses in London in this period. But they kept both for themselves. They were given a second chance to transfer full-time to the Blackfriars in 1613, when the Globe

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burned to the ground, its thatch accidentally set alight by a cannon during a performance of Henry VIII. By then the Blackfriars was already beginning to bring better profits than the Globe, since the smaller house size was more than compensated by its higher prices. Instead, bearing the cost out of sentiment and traditional loyalty, the company members dug deep into their own pockets and rebuilt the Globe more splendidly than before.

Technically, the 1599 Globe and its 1614 replacement span an era in the history of theatre design. The first Globe, based on the skeleton of the original Theatre of 1576, was unique not just as the most famous example of that peculiar and short-lived form of theatre design but because it was actually the first to be built specifically for an existing acting company and financed by the company itself. Shakespeare designed As You Like It, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Pericles, and The Winter's Tale, not to mention Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens, for performance there.

The design of the Globe The design of the original Theatre responded to a mix of traditions. Its name, which up to then had been used for atlases (such as Mercator's) rather than for playhouses, drew attention to the Roman theatre tradition. Its circular shape, though, reflected not the D-shape of a Roman amphitheatre but the gatherings of crowds in a circle around the actors in town marketplaces, where all the players of 1576 got their training. The concept of building a scaffold with three levels of galleries surrounding a circular yard mimicked the arrangement for audiences of existing bearbaiting and bullbaiting houses. The stage, a platform mounted in the yard, was the kind of thing that traveling companies set up in inn yards.

The old Theatre was a 20-sided structure, as near to a circle as Elizabethan carpentry could make it. It stood more than 30 feet (9 metres) high, with three levels of seating in its galleries. Audience access was either through two narrow passageways under the galleries into the standing room of the yard around the stage or up two external stair towers into the rear of the galleries. Five of the 20 bays of the galleries were cut off by the frons scenae, or tiring-house wall, behind which the actors kept their store of props, costumes, and playbooks and prepared themselves for their performances. The stage was a 5-foot- (1.5-metre-) high platform protruding from the tiring-house into the middle of the yard. Two posts upheld a cover over the stage that protected the players and their expensive costumes from rain. The audience standing in the yard had no cover, though when it rained they could pay more and take shelter in the lowest gallery.

The Globe reproduced this old shape, with a few innovations mainly in the fresh painting and decoration of the stage area. Each of the four London amphitheatres that scholars know most about, the Rose, the Swan, the Globe, and the Fortune, had auditorium bays of a certain size, about 10 feet 6 inches (roughly 3 metres) from front to back and an average width of 14 feet (about 4 metres). The Globe and Fortune, and probably the Swan, had 20 bays in all, while the smaller Rose had 14. Seating in the form of degrees (wooden benches raked upward to the rear), along with the roofing over the topmost gallery, provided all the comfort short of a

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cushion that Elizabethans expected. A few rooms were reserved for the most privileged on the stage balcony itself. Including the space for nearly a thousand customers to stand in the yard around the stage, the small Rose had a total capacity of about 2,400 people, while contemporary estimates of total audience capacity at the Swan and the Globe claimed 3,000.

The stage was large, 43 or 44 feet (about 13 metres) across and 27 or more feet (some 8 metres) deep. The two stage posts were substantial, since they had to uphold the large cover, or heavens, which had a trapdoor in it with a windlass for winding boys playing gods down onto the stage. Below the heavens trapdoor was one in the stage, which served as the entry point for King Hamlet's ghost and the grave for Ophelia. The tiring-house wall had two doors on its flanks for entrances and exits and a central opening, normally covered by a set of hangings (Polonius's arras) that concealed the caskets in The Merchant of Venice and Hermione's statue in The Winter's Tale. Above the three openings, a balcony ran the width of the stage wall, the central room of which was used for scenes that required an upper window or balcony or the walls of a town.

Playing at the Globe The experience of watching a performance at the Globe was radically different from that of viewing modern Shakespeare on-screen. The plays were staged in the afternoons, using the light of day, and the audience surrounded the stage on all sides. No scenery was used, except for occasional emblematic devices such as a throne or a bed. It was almost impossible not to see the other half of the audience standing behind the players. Consequently, much of the staging was metatheatrical, conceding the illusory nature of the game of playing and making little pretense of stage realism. (For more on this subject, see Sidebar: Performance in Shakespeare's Theatre.)

Rebuilding the Globe The Globe was pulled down in 1644, two years after the Puritans closed all theatres, to make way for tenement dwellings. In 1970 the American actor Sam Wanamaker, who was driven by the notion of reconstructing a replica of the Globe, established the Shakespeare Globe Playhouse Trust. Seventeen years later a groundbreaking ceremony was held on a Bankside site near that of the original Globe, and in 1989 the foundations of the original building were discovered buried beneath a historic 19th-century building. Although only a small percentage of the original theatre could be examined, the discovery of these foundations enabled scholars to make certain design adjustments. They changed the planned 24 sides to 20, for instance, and, using the angles revealed by the archaeologists, they made the whole polygon 99 feet (30 metres) in outside diameter. By referring to a number of extant Elizabethan buildings for clues to the structure, style, interior, and roofing, scholars and architects completed the design of the Globe Theatre reconstruction. Using traditional methods and materials, with only a few concessions to modern fire regulations and the like, builders completed work on the new theatre in the mid-1990s. It is now part of a larger complex of buildings known as the International Shakespeare Globe Centre.

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The new theatre is not a perfect replica of the original building. It is made, for example, from new green oak, like the Fortune, not from the 23-year-old timbers of a dismantled building, like the original Globe. Its design is still speculative in key areas, such as its size, the shape of the stage, and the decorations. In addition, certain compromises had to be made to satisfy the constraints of fire-safety regulations. These entailed making the stairways and access doors wider, increasing the number of entrances to the yard, positioning sprinkler valves in the ridging of the thatched gallery roofing, and including conduits for electrical wiring. These provisos—and a restriction on the size of the audience at any performance to a maximum of 1,600, roughly half the number that attended the original Globe—have secured the right for the new Globe to be used once again as a theatre.

The basic justification for attempting to reconstruct the Globe in a faithful version of the original is that it can be used to learn more about Shakespeare's plays. The Globe was Shakespeare's machine, financed and built by the company that intended to use it. How it worked and what it produced have a great deal to offer to students of Shakespeare's plays—those written pre-texts, as they have been called with some justice, which record all he thought his fellows needed to know when they staged his plays. Everything that has been wrung

from these pre-texts in the last four centuries is enhanced by a better knowledge of Shakespeare's original concept.

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Shakespeare: Types of Plays All Shakespeare's plays fall into one of the four categories of tragedy, comedy, history, or romance.

Tragedies Generally, tragedies end with the death of the protagonist, and often with that of several of the principals. Do not think, however, that tragedies are simply gloomy. Several of them, notably Hamlet, contain much wit and dry humor. Great tragedies, such as Shakespeare's, do not leave their audience sad, but exalted, even if in tears. We often come away feeling we have understood something new about ourselves or the world.

Comedies The comedies may or may not be very funny, but they usually end with the marriage of the principal couple and often with that of other couples as well. However, the comedies are not uniformly lighthearted. Some contain bitter and disturbing scenes. What mainly distinguishes Shakespeare's comedies from his tragedies is that the comedies look forward to the future. In the tragedies, we almost always witness the end of something important. Usually it is not just the end of the life of the protagonist and some of his friends, but that of an entire historical era or royal dynasty.

Histories The history plays deal with actual events and people, and they end in whatever way is dictated by the historical facts. These plays, although based on known events and historical figures, are often as fanciful in details as the tragedies and comedies. Shakespeare was not really a historian, and he used historical events as ways of stimulating his imagination, not of recording what actually happened.

Romances Romances are plays that have so much of the fantastic or supernatural that they fit none of the three more traditional categories. Shakespeare's romances are the work of his last years, and they seem to amount to a kind of farewell to the stage.

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The Theater Experience in Shakespeare’s Day To really understand Shakespeare, you need to see his plays live on stage. It’s a sad fact that today we normally study Shakespeare out of a book, but it’s important to remember that Shakespeare wasn’t writing for today’s literary audience; he was writing for the masses, many of whom couldn’t read or write.

Exploring the context of Shakespeare’s theater gives you a fuller understanding of his plays.

The Theater ExperienceThe experience of visiting a theater and watching a play was very different in Elizabethan times. You were not expected to be still and silent throughout the performance like you are today. Rather, it was the modern equivalent of going to see a popular band.

Going to the theater in Shakespeare's time was in no way the formal, dress-up experience that it can be today. People of the time, especially Londoners, went to the theater for fun, even mischievous fun, as we might go to a really wild performance by a rock group. The Elizabethan audience did not behave itself; it ate, drank, and talked throughout the play, threw itself completely into the action on the stage, and made its opinions of the play and the actors known on the spot, without waiting to see what the critics would have to say. The richer people who sat in the gallery may have been a little better behaved than the groundlings, who stood in front of the stage, but even they were far noisier than any theater audience today.

Until James Burbage built the first theater, in 1576, plays were presented in the courtyards of inns, with the spectators surrounding the stage. When Burbage's theater was threatened with demolition in 1598, his sons dismantled it and carried its timbers across the Thames to build a new theater, which they named the Globe. Shakespeare's greatest plays were first presented in the Globe, and the theater will be forever linked with his name. The Globe burned down in 1613 when a stage cannon exploded; it was rebuilt on the same spot in 1994 as part of a permanent exhibition.

Major Differences• The audience would eat, drink and talk throughout the performance• Theaters were open air and used natural light• Plays were performed in the afternoon in the daylight• Women never performed and the female characters were often played by boys• Plays used very little scenery, instead using language to set the scene

The Changing Status of TheaterShakespeare saw the public’s attitude towards theater change during his lifetime. Theater was once considered to be a disreputable pastime and was frowned upon by the Puritan authorities, who were worried that it might distract people from their religious teachings. During the reign of Elizabeth I, theaters were

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banned within the city walls of London (even though the Queen enjoyed the theater and gave it her patronage).

Over time, theater became more popular and a thriving “entertainment” scene grew on Bankside, just outside the city walls. Bankside was considered to be a “den of iniquity” with its brothels, bear-baiting pits and theaters – good company for the world’s greatest playwright.

The Acting ProfessionTheater companies were extremely busy. They would perform around six different plays each week, which could only be rehearsed a couple of times beforehand. Also, there was no stage crew like we have today; every member of the company would have to help make costumes, props and scenery.

The Elizabethan acting profession worked on an apprentice system, making it very hierarchical. Even Shakespeare would have had to rise up through the ranks:

1. Shareholders and general managers were in charge and profited the most from the company’s success.

2. Actors were employed by the managers and became permanent members of the company.3. Boy apprentices were at the bottom of the hierarchy. Sometimes they were allowed in act in

menial roles or play the female characters.

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Common Phrases in Shakespeare Shakespeare has had a huge influence on the English language. Some people today reading Shakespeare for the first time complain that the language7 is difficult to read and understand, yet we are still using hundreds of words and phrases coined by him in our everyday conversation.

Phrases Coined by ShakespeareYou have probably quoted Shakespeare thousands of times without realizing it. If your homework gets you “in a pickle”, your friends have you “in stitches”, or your guests “eat you out of house and home”, then you’re quoting Shakespeare.

Here are some of the most popular Shakespeare phrases in common use today• A laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor)• A sorry sight (Macbeth) • As dead as a doornail (Henry VI) • Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2) • Fair play (The Tempest) • I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello) • In a pickle (The Tempest) • In stitches (Twelfth Night) • In the twinkling of an eye (The Merchant Of Venice) • Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2) • Neither here nor there (Othello) • Send him packing (Henry IV) • Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV) • There's method in my madness (Hamlet) • Too much of a good thing (As You Like It) • Vanish into thin air (Othello)

In many cases, it is not known if Shakespeare actually invented these phrases, or if they were already in use during his lifetime. In fact, it is almost impossible to identify when a word or phrase was first used, but Shakespeare’s plays often provide the earliest citation.

Shakespeare’s writing lives on in today’s language, culture and literary traditions because his influence became an essential building block in the development of the English language. His writing is so deeply engrained that it is impossible to imagine modern literature without his influence.

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Who wrote Shakespeare? Shakespeare’s true identity has been in dispute since the Eighteenth Century because only fragments of evidence have survived the 400 years since his death6. Although we know a great deal about his legacy through his plays and sonnets7, we know little about the man himself. Unsurprisingly then, a number of conspiracy theories have built up around Shakespeare’s true identity.

There are a number of theories surrounding the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays, but most are based on one of the following three ideas

1. The William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon and the William Shakespeare working in London were two separate people. They have been falsely connected by historians.

2. Someone called William Shakespeare did work with Burbage’s theater company8, but did not write the plays. Shakespeare was putting his name to plays given to him by someone else.

3. William Shakespeare was a pen name for another writer – or perhaps a group of writers

These theories have sprung up because the evidence surrounding Shakespeare’s life9 is insufficient – not necessarily contradictory. The following reasons are often cited as evidence that Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare (despite a distinct lack of evidence):

Someone Else Wrote the Plays Because• The will of the world’s greatest writer did not itemize any books (however, the inventory part of

the will has been lost)• Shakespeare did not have the university education required to write with such knowledge of the

classics (although he would have been introduced to the classics at school in Stratford-upon-Avon)• There is no record of Shakespeare ever attending Stratford-upon-Avon grammar school (however,

school records were not kept back then)• When Shakespeare died, none of his contemporary writers made tribute to him (although

references were made during his lifetime)

The Authorship DebateThere are enough conspiracy theories out there regarding the works of Shakespeare (or attributed to Shakespeare, if you prefer) that entire careers have been built upon positing alternate candidates for the true authorship of the works. Whether or not the claim of Shakespeare is legitimate, the burden of proof would seem to lie on those who wish to discredit the Bard. On the other hand, it's only fair to give attention to this debate as it has been ongoing since the 1700s.

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Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford: This contemporary of Shakespeare has been strongly advanced since the 1930s as the true author of Shakespeare's plays. A well-educated and well-traveled nobleman of Queen Elizabeth I's court, de Vere has been championed by the author Charlton Ogburn using parallels of the Earl's life with material from the plays—for instance, noting similarities between Polonius of Hamlet and the Earl's guardian, William Cecil. The Earl of Oxford apparently stopped his literary pursuits at an early age—unless, as Ogburn postulates, the Earl continued writing under

the pen name of William Shakespeare. PBS aired a 1996 "Frontline" special on the subject.

Francis Bacon, Philosopher and Writer: Bacon has been a traditional favorite of the anti-Stratford camp, and retains a high place on the list of potential candidates. Bacon proponents point toward Bacon's learning, his correspondences and memoirs (most notably, his notebook, Promus), as well as ciphers and other coincidences. Although Bacon was an undisputed man of letters, his style and expression vary greatly from that of Shakespeare's works. Bacon also produced such a voluminous output of his own, it's hard to conceive of him finding spare time enough to produce the quality output of work attributed to the Bard.

Christopher Marlowe, Playwright: Marlowe would be the ultimate ghost writer, as he was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl in 1593. However, there are those that say Marlowe really didn't die; according to some, he was actually an occasional spy in the employ of the Crown. This eventually necessitated a fake death, after which Marlowe went on for an undetermined number of years penning poetry and plays under the nom de plume of Shakespeare. PBS also aired a January 2003 "Frontline" episode about Marlowe.

Other CandidatesOther notable candidates have included William Stanley, Earl of Derby; Ben Jonson; Thomas Middleton; Sir Walter Raleigh (with or without collaboration by Francis Bacon); and even Queen Elizabeth I herself. There have been dozens of other such nominations since the Bard's death, and none have yet presented proof enough to discredit the man from Stratford.

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