Alas, poor Shakespeare

In General Interest by Steve Sliwa

James Shapiro wrote an article about the controversy around Shakespeare coming from the upcoming movie “Anonymous” at:  link

An interesting quote from the article:

Leading actors, including Mark Rylance, Derek Jacobi, Michael York and Jeremy Irons, have publicly come out against Shakespeare as Shakespeare. National Public Radio’s Renée Montagne recently accepted an award for her series on “Morning Edition” calling Shakespeare’s authorship into doubt. At the New York Times, William Niederkorn has written a series of pieces questioning Shakespeare’s authorship. Elise Broach’s “Shakespeare’s Secret,” a popular young-adult novel, has recycled the story of Elizabeth’s clandestine relationship with the Earl of Oxford for the middle-school crowd.

And as the Wall Street Journal reported last year, the Supreme Court boasts some of the most prominent Oxfordians in the land. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has signed a “declaration of doubt” about Shakespeare’s authorship. Justice Antonin Scalia has publicly acknowledged his belief that the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays. So has Justice John Paul Stevens, who has been declared “Oxfordian of the Year.”

I have been following the controversy since 1999 when I resided for short time in the UK and visited various Shakespearean sites.  I was most taken by the following facts:

  • Shakespeare never made it past 8th grade
  • World history was not taught in the lower levels and all library materials were scarce.  Fortunately, records exist for such expensive books and Shakespeare was nowhere to be found.  Yet works attributed to Shakespeare have an incredible depth and breadth of understanding.
  • Shakespeare’s work uses one of the most extensive vocabularies of any group of literature, including the invention of over 800 words.
  • None of Shakespeare’s personal papers when he died looked any different than if an adult with an 8th grade education would have written them.  Nary a sonnet nor rhyme of any sort were found in any of his personal effects, will, and etc.

So it seems doubtful to me that such a person could have written Shakespeare without the education, training, and follow-through.

Who wrote Shakespeare?

Candidates include Earl of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe, or a group of authores.

I am not sure, but tend to favor that last one.

From time to time I will report on new in this area.

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