1. Can the real William Shakespeare please stand up?

- Why is William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon an unlikely candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare’s works;

Anti-Stratfordians, believers who support the various other authorship theories other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon is the real Shakespeare, all agree on two base arguments. One is that the poet and playwright of all the productions published under the name of “William Shakespeare” is an educated and well-rounded aristocrat, and the second, that William Shakespeare’s education was incompatible with the true identity of the author.

In all of Shakespeare’s poems and plays, they undoubtedly display a vast knowledge of the royal courts, Italy, the Classics, and the law, in addition to the extensive vocabulary which the real Shakespeare has. Shakespeare has to a certain extent some knowledge of the royal courts. For instance, in the English royal courts, there were often professional fools who entertained the rulers of the court, and in Shakespeare’s work Twelfth Night (Feste the Fool). Knowledge of Italy’s culture and way of life can be found in The Merchant of Venice, like the different social classes and the attitudes of masters towards servants. References to classical literature are present in Shakespeare’s works, like the many references to mythological characters and their stories. Shakespeare is also seen to use several legal terms in his works, and like the trial scene of The Merchant of Venice. Through his works, we can claim that the real Shakespeare should have been well-educated to have his superb grammar, vocabulary and knowledge in the Classics, at least travelled to Italy to know about its society, educated in the law or worked as a lawyer, and was an aristocrat.

Little is known about the personal life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare was born, married and buried in that same town of approximately 1500 population back then and there was no historical evidence that he ever travelled to Italy throughout his life. The town was a centre for the slaughter and distribution of sheep and wool trading. He was born into an illiterate family and received an incomplete grammar education at the free King’s New School near Stratford till the age of 13 or 15. He had no further education and did not specialise in the Classics or law. With regards to his vocabulary, a labourer at that time would have a vocabulary of 300 words, scholars with 4000-6000 words, and Shakespeare, 15000-29000, more than 50 times of the ordinary peasant at that time. With his background, one wonders how Shakespeare had such a huge vocabulary with the education he received and the society he lived in, and how did Shakespeare create such great works without formal education of the law and Classics. Most importantly, he was not born into a family of aristocrats, so how did he get to know about the royal court and its occupants?

With this historical evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was not the real Shakespeare, there is one final mystery of his will. The language of his will was un-poetic and ordinary, and has no mention of any of his poems, plays or personal papers.

- Who are the possible candidates?

In the previous section, we mentioned why William Shakespeare is unlikely to be the real Shakespeare. Among the various theories of who the real Shakespeare is, there are over 70 candidates who fit the role but there are a few which have gain large numbers of supporters. They are:

- Sir Francis Bacon – He was a lawyer, philosopher, scientist and essayist born into an aristocrat family. In the early days, he was home schooled and later on went to Trinity College and the University of Poitiers. Queen Elizabeth was impressed by his giftedness as a young child. He went on to travel widely including Italy and Spain, and studied civil law and language. He entered parliament in 1584 and joined the Queen’s Council in 1596 and was subsequently knighted in 1603, and became Lord Chancellor in 1618.

- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford – He was heir to one of the earldom in England and was educated by some of the finest tutors, many with prestigious education backgrounds. At the age of 12 in 1562, he became the 17th Earl of Oxford and Lord Great Chamberlain of England. He went on to study French, Latin and writing among many others. He was especially interested and talented in drama and poetry. In 1567, he was admitted to Gray’s Inn and in 1571, took his seat at the House of Lords. He left England in February 1575 and travelled to various cities in Italy including Venice and returned in April the same year.

- Christopher Marlowe – He was born to a village cobbler and attended The King’s School before moving on to Corpus Christi College where he studied on scholarship. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584 and wrote several successful plays and poems. However, he was said to have died in 1593 at the age of 29, much earlier than when Shakespeare wrote his works. As a result, Marlovians believe that his death was faked and he published his works under the name of Shakespeare thereafter.

- William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby – He was born in 1561 as an English nobleman as his mother was heir to Queen Elizabeth. He attended St. John’s College and was known for his travels to various countries, including France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Moscow and Greenland. He became a member of the Privy’s Council in 1603, received the Order of the Garter, and was appointed Lord Chamberlain of Chester.

- Who is the most likely candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare’s works? Provide reasons to support your view.

Although it is possible that all of the candidates including the man from Stratford-upon-Avon could be the real Shakespeare, I believe that Oxford (i.e. Edward de Vere) is the most likely candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare’s works, who is currently the most popular candidate for the authorship of Shakespeare’s works.

Oxford was an aristocrat who was gifted in being a poet and a playwright; he had connections with Queen Elizabeth I and had knowledge of the royal courts, well educated in various languages and travelled to France and Italy, which were the settings for many of Shakespeare’s works. There were many parallels between his biography and Shakespeare’s plays, poems and sonnets.

For example, Oxford went in bond for £3,000 to support an unsuccessful Northwest passage expedition in 1577 and supported equally unsuccessful Northwest expeditions in 1584 and 1585, like Antonio in Merchant of Venice who signed a bond for 3000 ducats. In addition, the playwright of the same play should have experienced life in Italy to be able to know that a dish of baked doves was an honoured gift and that there was a penalty in the novel which stats “forfeiture of half an estate to the Republic and half to the wronged party, plus a discretionary death penalty, to any foreigner (including Jews) who attempted to take the life of a Venetian citizen,” similar to the penalty given to Shylock in the play.

Technically, character distribution tests, word length analysis, and the proportion of unique words test were performed on Shakespeare’s works and those of Marlowe’s, Bacon’s and de Vere’s. The tests showed and concluded that de Vere’s works were most similar to that of Shakespeare’s.

The education, background and personal experiences of Oxford are all needed to produce Shakespeare’s plays and poems, and he is likely to be the real Shakespeare.

References:
Kathman, D. Shakespeare’s Knowledge of Italy, the Classics, and the Law. http://shakespeareauthorship.com/italy.html (25/6/2011)
Kathman, D. Were Shakespeare’s Plays Written by an Aristocrat? http://shakespeareauthorship.com/aristocrat.html (25/6/2011)
Beauclerk, C. http://www.whowroteshakespeare.com/index-2.html (25/6/2011)
Jarvis, B. Rogues, Vagabonds and Sturdy Beggars. http://www.shakespeare-authorship.org.uk/ (25/6/2011)
Seletsky, O., & Huang, T., & Frost, W. H. (12 December 2007). The Shakespeare Authorship Question. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~datamining/Final.pdf (25/6/2011)