Who really wrote the works of William Shakespeare?

[Savonarola]

I just read Mark Twain's essay: Is Shakespeare Dead?, which was originally intended as part of his autobiography (I don't get it either.)  Now personally I don't think anyone other than the historic William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon wrote any of the works attributed to him; but if it was a pseudonym and a conspiracy, who is the most likely candidate?

I put the one's I've heard before on the poll, but there are over 80 possible candidates.  (Including Edward VI, that one amused me.)

Bacon is Twain's preferred candidate.  That seems very unlikely to me, he had no reason to hide his authorship; and he left us with such a corpus of works that it would seem unlikely that he had spare time to write plays.

De Vere and Stanley are usually proposed as wanting to conceal their aristocratic background.  Theater was considered low brow (or immoral) in those days, but there's no good reason that they wouldn't claim authorship of the sonnets, Venus and Adonis or The Rape of Lucrece.  Sir Phillip Sidney had a career as a sonnet writer and no one thought the less of him for that.

Marlowe is my personal favorite, since it involves him faking his death and continuing to write under a pseudonym.  The accounts of his death are sparse, and he would have had good reason to want to fake his death; but Marlowe and Shakespeare's plays aren't very much alike.  Shakespeare doesn't even use the Marlowe's most common theme of mankind reaching far above his station.

Herbert is something of a "Shakespeare's Sister" candidate (her brother was Sir Phillip Sidney.)  I've only ever encountered her as one author who wrote under the pseudonym "William Shakespeare," which I think is even less likely than a single author.

Queen Elizabeth I did actually write poetry; but like Marlowe (or Edward VI) would have had to have written from beyond the grave.

[HVC]

Other. Shakespeares wife. He was a misogynist who stole her legacy. That's why he only left her the second best bed* when he died, as an added sign of his passive aggressive distaste for women in general and his wife in particular.



*the second best bed was supposed to by the matrimonial bed, but it just sounds bad when written in a will

[The Brain]

Other. Shakespeares wife. He was a misogynist who stole her legacy. That's why he only left her the second best bed* when he died, as an added sign of his passive aggressive distaste for women in general and his wife in particular.



*the second best bed was supposed to by the matrimonial bed, but it just sounds bad when written in a will

Anne Hathaway was born in 1982.

[HVC]

Other. Shakespeares wife. He was a misogynist who stole her legacy. That's why he only left her the second best bed* when he died, as an added sign of his passive aggressive distaste for women in general and his wife in particular.



*the second best bed was supposed to by the matrimonial bed, but it just sounds bad when written in a will

Anne Hathaway was born in 1982.

A time travelling playwright

[Josquius]

Not exactly something I'm super into but I do think the theories that SOME of Shakespeares works were by someone else hold validity.

[Grey Fox]

Oh, English. Such a piss poor language.

[Savonarola]

Not exactly something I'm super into but I do think the theories that SOME of Shakespeares works were by someone else hold validity.

Two Noble Kinsmen is attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare and there is some evidence that Pericles, Prince of Tyre had a collaborator.  It's possible that some of what we think are Shakespeare's plays are misattributed; but that's a different argument than having someone intentionally write under a pseudonym.

[HVC]

Oh, English. Such a piss poor language.

It's an amalgamation, but stronger then its individual parts. Like bronze!

[crazy canuck]

Not exactly something I'm super into but I do think the theories that SOME of Shakespeares works were by someone else hold validity.

Why?

as for the poll, I agree with Sav, the Marlowe option is the most entertaining, even if one of the most improbable.

[Sheilbh]

Not exactly something I'm super into but I do think the theories that SOME of Shakespeares works were by someone else hold validity.

Some parts of some works maybe.

I hate this conspiracy theory when it's taken seriously Marlowe is a little bit of an exception but normally dismissed (and I think the various, possibly true, Marlowe's spying career stories more fun). And Marlowe would be the fun option, but fair to say he had a bit of a literary glow-up

Although I also forgive actors like Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance buying into it because actors are always into woo-woo nonsense and fundamentally can't be trusted on anything

But you boil down the real believers' views and it's normally just the worst sort of classism. These great works of literature could not possibly have been written by the provincial son of a glovemaker, who went to his local grammar school and then made it big in London. Instead it always has to have secretly actually been an aristocrat or someone from the elite in some way or other. (Also many of them cite his "detailed knowledge" of other countries as a reason it had to be someone richer and well traveled rather than a pleb from the Midlands when there's literally a play that includes scenes on the beaches of Bohemia )

[Barrister]

But you boil down the real believers' views and it's normally just the worst sort of classism. These great works of literature could not possibly have been written by the provincial son of a glovemaker, who went to his local grammar school and then made it big in London. Instead it always has to have secretly actually been an aristocrat or someone from the elite in some way or other. (Also many of them cite his "detailed knowledge" of other countries as a reason it had to be someone richer and well traveled rather than a pleb from the Midlands when there's literally a play that includes scenes on the beaches of Bohemia )

+1

[Caliga]

Yeah.  The Shakespeare conspiracy theories are fun but they remind me "LOL JACK THE RIPPER WAS A SECRET ROYAL PRINCE", the Mayan pyramids had to have been built by Old World seafarers, etc.  It's the contention that extraordinary things (good or bad) can't be done by ordinary people.

[grumbler]

I voted other:  it was a different guy who just happened to have the same name.

But I don't care all that much.  Shakespeare is over-rated.  When you examine them critically, you realize that his works are just a smash of clichés.

[Barrister]

I voted other:  it was a different guy who just happened to have the same name.

But I don't care all that much.  Shakespeare is over-rated.  When you examine them critically, you realize that his works are just a smash of clichés.

OK, so I'm not taking a definitive stance on this with a teacher, since I haven't read Shakespeare since I was in high school.

But aren't they cliches because Shakespeare made them so?

Or is that the joke you were going for?

I'm so confused.

[grumbler]

I voted other:  it was a different guy who just happened to have the same name.

But I don't care all that much.  Shakespeare is over-rated.  When you examine them critically, you realize that his works are just a smash of clichés.

OK, so I'm not taking a definitive stance on this with a teacher, since I haven't read Shakespeare since I was in high school.

But aren't they cliches because Shakespeare made them so?

Or is that the joke you were going for?

I'm so confused.

Both of my statements are aged jokes that I still use anyway because they usually draw at least a smile.