Who Was William Shakespeare Essay Research Paper

Who was William Shakespeare

This research paper takes a look at the controversy surrounding the validity of

Shakespearean authorship. I must tell you that before performing this research, I had no

idea that this topic was such a debate in the world of literature. My goal in writing this

paper is to hopefully bring some insight and knowledge to those who read it.

Who was the man we call William Shakespeare? William Shakespeare was a

man who wrote more than 36 world-famous dramas portraying the range and depth of

human nature. Surprisingly, we know very little about the man who created these

dramas, a man often referred to as the greatest literary genius in history. Shakespeare did

not in his own day inspire the mysterious adoration that afterward came to surround his

works.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April of 1564, the son of a

glover. When he was 18 years old he married Anne Hathaway and they had 3 children by

the time he was 21. There are a number of references to Shakespeare as an actor and

author by those who would have known him. However, there is not a single word of the

plays or the poems that is definitely in Shakespeare’s handwriting. There are only six

remaining legal documents containing his signature, which I might ad contain different

spellings of his name.

Since the mid 19th century, a large group of disbelievers have argued that

someone other than the Stratford man created the poems and plays presented as the

works of William Shakespeare. Since 1856 there have been 17 different proposed

substitutes for Shakespeare including the Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher

Marlowe, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Rutland, Sir Walter Raleigh and even Queen

Elizabeth I herself.

Assuming that Shakespeare of Stratford did not write the plays, Charlton Ogburn,

author and scholar, believes that a well educated man by the name of Edward de Vere,

Earl of Oxford fits the description as the author.

The author who wrote Richard III, and Hamlet had a vocabulary in excess of

20,000 words, and also had a first hand knowledge of the customs of the Danish Court

and of French and Italian cities. He used more than 100 musical terms as well as the

names of 200 plants. There is no documentation that William Shakespeare had access to

this type of information. Shakespeare may never have left the southeast of England.

Oxford on the other hand, had traveled to Paris, Venice and other foreign countries

described in the plays.

It has been implied that William Shakespeare from rural Stratford was humble,

much too limited, too uneducated and far too common to have had the capability to write

most of the plays containing such advanced vocabulary and worldly knowledge.

Shakespeare’s first six published plays appear with no author names. Mr.

Ogburn’s explanation of the use of Shakespeare’s name is that the Earl’s noble rank and

closeness to the throne did not allow him to be known as the author. His works would

have been subject to more harsh censorship than if written by a common man. So,

Edward de Vere found a willing stand in; William Shakespeare, who pretended to be the

author. Ogburn points out that the name William Shakespeare was not alluded to in print

until 1598. The only recorded mention of him in his lifetime by anyone in the world of

letters was by a man called Ben Jonson.

The most difficult obstacle to clear in considering Ogburn’s candidate, is the

insistence that the author of the plays must have been a nobleman simply because of the

plays treatment of kings and nobles and high life in general.

Nearly all of Shakespeare’s theatrical contemporaries were middle class men.

Other authors, even far lesser ones than Shakespeare, a man who is thought of as the

greatest creative genius of all times, can convincingly capture lives, scenes and

experiences other than the ones they were born to.

Many authors have stated that what writers write about is themselves. But what

Shakespeare tells us of himself in his plays and sonnets, of his background, interest and

character is completely different from Shakespeare as he appears on the record.

There are questions surrounding Shakespeare’s last will and testament.

Shakespeare left a very detailed will down to listing pieces of furniture. Some ask why

there is no mention of leaving his plays to anyone. From my observation it was common

for an acting company to own the dramas that it produced. Shakespeare like other

playwrights of his time, had no plays to leave to his heirs.

There is not convincing evidence that the Stratford man did not write the plays,

but if he didn’t the most convincing substitute would have to be Ogburn’s choice.

Despite 200 years of scholarly attempts to establish the Stratford man’s

credentials, doubts of the author’s identity will not go away. The very abundance of

candidates proposed in substitution for William Shakespeare of Stratford defines the

difficulties a growing number of people find in accepting his authorship.

The question of the Shakespeare authorship came before a court of law for the

first and only time in 1964 in England . Mr. Justice Wilberforce, the presiding Judge,

found that the evidence in favor of the Stratford man “is quantitatively slight” and that

“there is a number of difficulties in the way of the traditional ascription”.

Towards the end of this research I had to ask myself does it matter who William

Shakespeare was? The world should be grateful that his works carried on. What

difference could it possibly make to find out the man who wrote Romeo and Juliet was

not named William Shakespeare. It obviously matters a great deal to those who consider

his works to be man’s highest achievement in literature. After all, academic careers have

been built on the premise that the Stratford man wrote these plays. It seems to be a

matter of elementary justice that the man responsible for the tremendous achievement

should receive the credit for it. There is also a great interest in knowing about the kind of

man who could have written as William Shakespeare did.

We do know that Shakespeare was at least a shareholder in the Globe Theater and

later in Blackfriars.

No one before or since has so enriched the English language with new words.

The number of words he used once and never used again comes to 50 percent more than

are used in the entire Old Testament in the King James translation.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it was very interesting to find out that one

man contributed so much to the English language. Shakespeare introduced words and

phrases never before known to man. If you have ever used phrases like “It’s Greek to

me” or “I refuse to budge an inch” or “for goodness’ sake” whether you realize it or not

you are quoting Shakespeare.