Is William Shakespeare a fraud? Everyone has heard of the playwright William Shakespeare, whose name is made famous because of his many literary works such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. Often considered to be one of the best playwrights in history, Shakespeare has been credited with authoring several famous plays, and is often regarded as a literary genius due to his writing style and vast vocabulary. But, what if Shakespeare is not the genuine writer of the plays of which he is commonly credited for writing? Many people speculate that Shakespeare is in fact not the actual author, and that Shakespeare was either a pseudonym used by the actual author, or that Shakespeare was an individual used as a cover through which the real author
…show more content…
Just when did speculation of Shakespeare not being the author of his plays begin and by whom was it started? The speculation of Shakespeare’s authorship came about during the mid 19th century, as Shakespeare came to be known as the greatest playwright to ever exist. However, unease about Shakespeare's authorship started to spread due to the glaring disagreement between his mundane biography and his amazing reputation. People began to question whether he was the true author of his works during this time. His modest origins and vague life seemed to be in conflict with the poetic, genius reputation with which he had been attributed. This mismatch of information caused some to believe Shakespeare may not have actually written any of the works for which he is famous. The first open questioning of Shakespeare's authorship can be found within pages of The Romance of Yachting by Joseph C. Hart, where Hart argued that Shakespeare's plays contained evidence of being worked on by different authors. “The authorship of the plays is no otherwise material to us, than as a matter of curiosity, and to enable us to render exact justice; but they should not be assigned to Shakespeare alone, if at all.” This statement shows that the author believed Shakespeare to not deserve all, if any, of the credit for writing the plays. Four years later, in 1854, an essay called “Who Wrote Shakespeare?” was published in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. This essay argues heavily against the case of Shakespeare being the true author of his plays, in which the author of the essay asks: “[i]s it more difficult to suppose that Shakespeare was not the author of the poetry ascribed to him, than to account for the fact that there is nothing in the recorded or traditionary life of Shakespeare which in any way connects the poet with the man?” This is used to argue against Shakespeare's authorship, causing further speculation regarding
Just when did speculation of Shakespeare not being the author of his plays begin and by whom was it started? The speculation of Shakespeare’s authorship came about during the mid 19th century, as Shakespeare came to be known as the greatest playwright to ever exist. However, unease about Shakespeare's authorship started to spread due to the glaring disagreement between his mundane biography and his amazing reputation. People began to question whether he was the true author of his works during this time. His modest origins and vague life seemed to be in conflict with the poetic, genius reputation with which he had been attributed. This mismatch of information caused some to believe Shakespeare may not have actually written any of the works for which he is famous. The first open questioning of Shakespeare's authorship can be found within pages of The Romance of Yachting by Joseph C. Hart, where Hart argued that Shakespeare's plays contained evidence of being worked on by different authors. “The authorship of the plays is no otherwise material to us, than as a matter of curiosity, and to enable us to render exact justice; but they should not be assigned to Shakespeare alone, if at all.” This statement shows that the author believed Shakespeare to not deserve all, if any, of the credit for writing the plays. Four years later, in 1854, an essay called “Who Wrote Shakespeare?” was published in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. This essay argues heavily against the case of Shakespeare being the true author of his plays, in which the author of the essay asks: “[i]s it more difficult to suppose that Shakespeare was not the author of the poetry ascribed to him, than to account for the fact that there is nothing in the recorded or traditionary life of Shakespeare which in any way connects the poet with the man?” This is used to argue against Shakespeare's authorship, causing further speculation regarding