Did William Shakespeare really write anything at all?

William Shakespeare and the authorship question have always been something I have been curious about. Now, the movie Anonymous site has me interested in this topic enough to make this a topic up for discussion. This has a history to it. Does WS deserve his reputation?

Here are the candidates: This list of 79 candidates is in alphabetical order of surname, so that aristocrats appear under their family name, rather than their title (e.g. "De Vere, Edward" rather than "Oxford, Earl of").

• Alexander, William (1568–1640), 1st Earl of Stirling.[16]
• Andrewes, Lancelot (1555–1626), Bishop of Winchester.[17]
• Bacon, Anthony (1558–1601), statesman, spy.[16]
• Bacon, Francis (1561–1626), lawyer, scholar, essayist.[16]
• Barnes, Barnabe (1571–1609), poet, playwright.[16]
• Barnfield, Richard (1574–1620), poet.[16]
• Bernard, Sir John (1605–1674), husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter.[16]
• Blount, Charles (1563–1606), 8th Baron Mountjoy and 1st Earl of Devonshire.[16]
• Bodley, Rev. Miles (ca. 1553– ca. 1611), Bible scholar; proposed in 1940 (mistakenly as "Sir Miles Bodley") by W. M. Cunningham.[17]
• Bodley, Sir Thomas (1545–1613), diplomat, scholar.[17]
• Burbage, Richard (1567–1619), actor.[16]
• Burton, Robert (1577–1640), scholar.[16]
• Butts, William (d. 1583), patron of literature; proposed by Walter Conrad Arensberg.[18]
• Campion, Edmund (1540–1581), poet; proposed by Joanne Ambrose in 2005.[19]
• Cecil, Robert (1563–1612), 1st Earl of Salisbury, statesman.[16]
• Chettle, Henry (1560–1607), playwright, polemicist.[16]
• Daniel, Samuel (1562–1619), poet, historian.[16]
• de Cervantes, Miguel (1547-1616), Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright; proposed by Carlos Fuentes in 1976.[20]
• de Vere, Edward (1550–1604), 17th Earl of Oxford, first proposed by J. Thomas Looney in 1920.[16]
• Dekker, Thomas (1572–1632), playwright.[16]
• Devereux, Robert (Essex) (1566–1601), 2nd Earl of Essex.[16]
• Devereux, Walter (1541?–1576), 1st Earl of Essex.[16]
• Donne, John (1572–1631), poet, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral.[16]
• Drake, Sir Francis (1540–1596), naval commander, adventurer.[16]
• Drayton, Michael (1563–1631), playwright.[16]
• Dyer, Sir Edward (1543–1607), courtier, poet; proposed by Alden Brooks in 1943.[21]
• Ferrers, Henry (1549–1633), Warwickshire antiquary.[16]
• Fletcher, John (1579–1625), playwright.[16]
• Florio, John (1554–1625), linguist.[16]
• Florio, Michelangelo (1515–1572), protestant evangelist and scholar; proposed by Santi Paladino in 1925.[22]
• Greene, Robert (1558–1592) , playwright, polemicist.[16]
• Greville, Fulke (1554–1628) 1st Baron Brooke; proposed by A. W. L. Saunders in 2007.[23]
• Griffin, Bartholomew (d. 1602), poet.[16]
• Hastings, William. Supposed son of Queen Elizabeth; proposed by Robert Nield in 2007.[24]
• Hathaway, Anne (1555/6-1623), Shakespeare's wife, proposed by J. P. de Fonseka, 1938.[25]
• Herbert, William (1580–1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke.[16]
• Heywood, Thomas (1574–1641), playwright.[16]
• The Jesuits, proposed by Harold Johnson in Did the Jesuits Write 'Shakespeare'? (1916).[26]
• Jonson, Ben (1572–1637), playwright, poet.[16]
• Kyd, Thomas (1558–1594), playwright.[16]
• Lanier, Emilia (1569–1645), poet; proposed by John Hudson in 2007.[27]
• Lodge, Thomas (1557–1625), playwright.[16]
• Lyly, John (1554–1606), playwright, prose stylist.[16]
• Manners, Elizabeth Sidney (d. 1615), Countess of Rutland.[16]
• Manners, Roger (1576–1612), 5th Earl of Rutland.[16]
• Marlowe, Christopher (1564–1593), playwright; first proposed by Wilbur G. Zeigler in 1895.[16]
• Mathew, Sir Tobie (1577–1655), courtier, Catholic priest.[17]
• Middleton, Thomas (1580–1627), playwright.[16]
• More, Sir Thomas (1478–1535), Lord Chancellor of England and Saint of the Catholic Church.[17]
• Munday, Anthony (1560–1633), dramatist.[16]
• Nashe, Thomas (1567–1601), poet, polemicist.[16]
• Neville, Henry politician and courtier; proposed by Brenda James and William Rubenstein in 2005.[28]
• North, Thomas (1535-1604), translator of Plutarch, proposed by Dennis Mc Carthy in 2011.[29]
• Nugent, William (1550–1625), Irish rebel; first proposed by Elizabeth Hickey in 1978.[30]
• Paget, Henry (d. 1568), 2nd Baron Paget.[16]
• Peele, George (1556–1596), playwright.[16]
• Pierce, William (1561–1674), claimed writer; proposed by Peter Zenner in 1999.[19]
• Porter, Henry (fl. c. 1596–99), playwright.[16]
• Raleigh, Sir Walter (1554–1618), courtier, poet.[16]
• The Rosicrucians[16]
• Sackville, Thomas (1536–1608), Lord Buckhurst, 1st Earl of Dorset.[16]
• Shirley, Sir Anthony (1565?–1635), soldier, sailor, adventurer.[16]
• Sidney Herbert, Mary (1561–1621), Countess of Pembroke, nominated by Gilbert Slater in 1931.[16][31]
• Sidney, Sir Philip (1554–1586), poet, soldier, courtier.[16]
• Smith, Wentworth (1571 – c.1623), playwright.[16]
• Spenser, Edmund (1552–1599), poet; proposed in 1940 by W. M. Cunningham.[17]
• Stanley, William, 6th Earl of Derby (1561–1642), first proposed by James Greenstreet in 1891.[16]
• Stuart, James, King of England (1566–1625), proposed by Malcolm X in 1965.[32]
• Stuart, Mary (1542–1587), Queen of Scots.[16]
• Tudor, Elizabeth (1533–1603), Queen of England; proposed anonymously in 1857,[33] re-proposed by W. R. Titterton in 1913 (not too seriously) and by G. E. Sweet in 1956.[34]
• Warner, William (c. 1558–1609), poet.[16]
• Watson, Thomas (1555–1592), poet.[35]
• Webster, John (1580?–1625?), playwright.[16]
• Whateley, Anne (1561?-1600?), Shakespeare's supposed first fiancée, proposed in 1939 by William Ross.[36]
• Wilson, Robert (1572–1600), playwright.[16]
• Wolsey, Thomas (1473?–1530) Cardinal of England.[16]
• Wotton, Sir Henry (1568–1639), scholar, diplomat; proposed in 1940 by W.M. Cunningham.[17]
• Wriothesley, Henry (1573–1624), 3rd Earl of Southampton.[16]
• Zubayr bin William, Shaykh ("Sheik Zubayr"), supposed Arab scholar, first proposed frivolously by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq and later in earnest by Safa Khulusi and, in 1989, Muammar Gaddafi.[37]

Most common theories:

• Sir Francis Bacon, !st Viscount Saint Albans
• Edward de Vere, 17 Count of Oxford'
  • 'Tudor theory'
• Christopher Marlowe
• William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby

edited 17th Oct '11 3:14:55 PM by secretist

I'm sure it was declared he wrote them.

Well I doubt its all a fraud.

Is more like he copied and stole from other artists and stories (and made them better in the process).

While reading him I think I notice a distinct style so I dont know.

"Although the idea has attracted much public interest,[2] all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe belief and for the most part disregard it except to rebut or disparage the claims.[3]"

Seriously, you might as well list every person alive during that time period and call it a day. Outdated conspiracy memes are outdated. Get over it.

I thought that "Did he write anything" question devolved into "Did he really exist". It doesn't really add up for Shakespeare as we know him to exist and yet not really write.

Well, I would not be surprised if he had assistants helping with the writing, and possibly contributing their own input, but at the least Shakespeare was the primary force behind the work attributed to him. No other big names involved.

edited 17th Oct '11 12:50:14 PM by TotemicHero

I generally see some of the theories as making sense. Most common theories:

• Sir Francis Bacon, !st Viscount Saint Albans
• Edward de Vere, 17 Count of Oxford
  • Tudor theory
• Christopher Marlowe
• William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby

edited 17th Oct '11 1:05:30 PM by secretist

Actually, what really happened is that Francis Bacon wrote all Shakespeare's works, Christopher Marlowe wrote all of Francis Bacon's works, Ben Jonson wrote all of Christopher Marlowe's works, and Shakespeare himself wrote all of Ben Jonson's works.

Where did Ben Johnson come into the calculation? Edit: I see him on the list of 76 candidates, but he's not that big of one as the other four and Shakespeare.

edited 17th Oct '11 1:09:50 PM by secretist

They had quite a laugh while writing each other's works as well, thinking themselves the best trolls of all time. They're looking up at us from Hell right now, still very amused with themselves.

And really the big hole in any "Shakespeare wasn't Shakespeare" theories is to ask, "Why?" Many of those people are known playwrights, poets, artists and public figures. Why would somebody say, "I'm going to publish some works under my own name, but others under this other guy's name!"

I can't conceive of any reason somebody would do that. Who would gain?

75 Individuals are listed... and the Rosicrucians.

Secretist, is this thread intended to start an honest discussion or is it just to show off your ability to cite Wikipedia?

Interesting point: Evidence leans to WS being uneducated and illiterate.

Secretist, copypasting a list from wikipedia is not an argument.

...I have this as a hotkey for every time he posts, would you believe that?

Anyway, I believe Shakespeare wrote what he wrote, but perhaps gets more credit than he's due. Lot of his works might be loaned/modified from other sources, and he probably didn't invent all those words he's credited for, he's just the earliest surviving source for them.

If he didn't write the plays, why in the world would we know anything about him, ie: that he was illiterate and whatnot? He'd just be some random guy that no one bothered keeping records about. Assuming he didn't write the plays, the name would almost certainly be a pseudonym, so "William Shakespeare" wouldn't even exist. Well, there might be someone who coincidentally had that name, but that wouldn't be the person we refer to.

Also, being illiterate doesn't strike me as a particular hindrance to writing plays anyway. Just dictate them to somebody. And it's not like he wrote in Latin or something either.

edited 17th Oct '11 1:39:14 PM by Clarste

I think this is generally accepted to be true. The Ur-Hamlet and all.

A lot of all works are rehashings of older plots and tales. Calling a particular author out on this is hypocritical even by modern lit-crit standards.

OP: Not sure if I should care about this or not. Either he did or he didn't. Pen name, ghost-writer, whatever. The works were written (well, duh), but does it rightly matter so long after the fact who physically penned them?

If anything, this is just a way of telling us to be pretty sure we attribute works to ourselves so those in the future won't waste time figuring out if some fan-fic was written by you or someone else, or if you even existed.

'William Shakespeare did not exist. His plays were masterminded by Francis Bacon, who used a Ouija board to enslave play-writing ghosts.'

edited 17th Oct '11 1:46:09 PM by Blueeyedrat

You win the thread. We can all go home now.

I don't get why it's potholed to Portal Two, though...

@ OP I'm facepalming at what you just posted.