History WMG / WilliamShakespeare

Cymbeline is full of [[ShoutOut allusions]] to Shakespeare's other, more legendary plays. The play is all right, but not Shakespeare good. It's a little too educated, like Jonson himself.

Jonson was pals with Shakespeare (and defended him often), but considered himself a genius and Shakespeare a hack (he often heckled Shakespeare's plays). Cymbeline comes off as a StealthParody.

* There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that Creator/WilliamShakespeare was merely an actor and was used as a front for somebody else who wrote his famous plays. The finger is generally pointed at such notables as Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, and Edward de Vere, meaning any or all of them could have written the plays ("all of them" being [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the "Round Table" Hypothesis]]). MarkTwain was one of the earliest prominent believers in these theories, which means it's OlderThanRadio.

* One of the few types of records that exist about William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon indicate that he was very good at business math, having made so much money off of something other than plays[[hottip:*:(Playwriting in Shakespeare's time, before copyrights, did not pay at all well. Since Shakespeare '''''needs to have made a lot of money off his plays''''', the [[WildMassGuessing Official History]] requires that playwriting in the time of Shakespeare pay so well you can buy '''houses''' (as in, more than one) with the income)]] that he was able to revive his family business, buy the largest house in Stratford, and buy enough property in Stratford to earn himself a kingly 60 pounds a year in landlord income.

*** A counter-argument in favor of him being the Playwright anyway is that since William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a letter home from London, yet somehow managed to become a successful businessman in Stratford, is that his wife Anne Hathaway may have been the real business genius in the family, doing business in his name back in Stratford. This would allow him to be awful at business math and still be the Playwright, while appearing in official documents to be a successful businessman.

*** For starters, the coastline of Bohemia. The extent of a country's borders, at that time and even now, is not solely determined by pure geography. Today we talk of, for example, "U.S. Soil" in terms of U.S. embassies, even though the ground they stand on is clearly a part of some other country, because of legal fictions used today and in Shakespeare's time. The same is true of the coastline of Bohemia: the Bohemian Empire once extended to the ocean (under King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor Rudolf II]], from 1575–1608, '''the period of Shakespeare'''), even though Bohemia itself has no coastline. Thus a Shakespearean contemporary would know of a Bohemian coastline that existed from 1575 to 1608.

* There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that William Creator/WilliamShakespeare was merely an actor and was used as a front for somebody else who wrote his famous plays. The finger is generally pointed at such notables as Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, and Edward de Vere, meaning any or all of them could have written the plays ("all of them" being [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the "Round Table" Hypothesis]]). MarkTwain was one of the earliest prominent believers in these theories, which means it's OlderThanRadio.
** Ben Jonson [[http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html knew a William Shakespeare who was an actor]], and according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything. Mind you, it could simply be that the Stratfordians are wrong and William Shakespeare was never an actor, since saying William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon was an actor is also WildMassGuessing, the explanation of how their Author ended up in London: the undocumented joining of a troupe of actors headed for London (most probably Leicester's Men or the Queen's Men), at some point between 1585 and 1592.

*** In order to give Bacon time to write Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare wrote Bacon's essays. So in a way, he did.

Second, S. made a number of elementary geographical mistakes in his plays -- one of the most famous (it was mocked by Ben Jonson) being that he had characters in ''The Winter's Tale'' shipwrecked on the coast of Bohemia. That's right -- shipwrecked on the coast of a landlocked country. Furthermore, in ''Two Gentlemen'' Valentine travels from Verona to Milan ''via'' ship. Yup -- both landlocked again.[[hottip:*: It was apparently possible to sail from one to the other via canal, but Shakespeare's language suggests he was thinking about actual sailing ships, not canal boats.]] In the early play ''King John'' a Duke of Austria does appear -- called "Lymoges" by the playwright, who was apparently not aware that RichardTheLionheart's enemies Ademar V, Viscount of Limoges (in west-central France) and Leopold V, Duke of Austria, ruled territors some 950 miles apart. Third, the nomenclature of ''Measure For Measure'' consists of common English names, like Froth, Elbow, and Mistress Overdone; classical names like Escalus and Pompey; and ''Italian'' names like Vincentio (the Duke), Isabella, Claudio, Juliet, Angelo, Mariana, and Lucio -- and not one single German name! Finally, Shakespeare makes none of the two usual Jacobean jokes about the Germans -- the bagginess of their pants (a joke which he ''does'' make about "Austria" in ''King John'') nor even the ancient, universal, and certainly highly appropriate for ''Measure For Measure'' one about their drunkenness (a joke which he ''does'' make about the Duke of Saxony's nephew in ''Merchant of Venice''). Obviously, ol' Will couldn't tell the difference between Vienna and Verona, and proceeded accordingly.

** Mind you, the idea that Shakespeare got an education at all is circular reasoning: the author of Shakespeare's plays was clearly an educated man, so even though there are no records of William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon getting an education, because it is assumed William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays, he must have received an extensive grammar school education.
*** This assumption that William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays also makes the Stratford grammar school have a much more extensive library than most grammar schools would have had at the time: because Shakespeare the Playwright has to have read from these books in order to have written the plays, therefore the country grammar school had the budget to purchase a huge selection of books, at a time when books cost as much as new cars do today.
* There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that William Creator/WilliamShakespeare was merely an actor and was used as a front for somebody else who wrote his famous plays. The finger is generally pointed at such notables as Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, and Edward de Vere, meaning any or all of them could have written the plays ("all of them" being the Round Table Hypothesis). MarkTwain was one of the earliest prominent believers in these theories, which means it's OlderThanRadio.
** Ben Jonson [[http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html knew a William Shakespeare who was an actor]], and according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything. Mind you, it could simply be that the Stratfordians are wrong and William Shakespeare was never an actor, since saying William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon was an actor is also WildMassGuessing.

*** Plus Marlowe wrote plays which had the same basic plots and themes of some of Shakespeare's plays, unnecessary duplication if he was also Shakespeare, and also dramatically different ideas about people in the world. Take Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta", his version of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". Marlowe's Jew, Barabas (a clear reference to the Bible's "Barrabas" who was released in place of Jesus) is a mustache-twirling one-dimensional melodrama villain who delights in violating his own religion, and at one point poisons an entire convent of nuns '''which includes his own daughter'''. Shakespeare's Shylock gets one of the more famous sympathy-gathering monologues of all time--"If you prick us, do we not bleed?"--as well as being a devout Jew right up to the point where he is forced to convert or be executed.

* One of the few types of records that exist about William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon indicate that he was very good at business math, having made so much money off of something other than plays that he was able to revive his family business, buy the largest house in Stratford, and buy enough property in Stratford to earn himself a kingly 60 pounds a year in landlord income.
** An argument against him being William Shakespeare the Playwright is that Shakespeare the Playwright is spectacularly '''bad at math''', especially '''business math'''.

** Ben Jonson [[http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html knew a William Shakespeare who was an actor]], and according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything. Mind you, it could simply be that the Stratfordians are wrong and William Shakespeare was never an actor.

** [[http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html There were contemporary individuals who questioned the authorship of Shakespeare's plays]]. Ben Jonson himself appears to have known both an ''author'' named William Shakespeare (whom Jonson liked), and an ''actor'' named William Shakespeare (whom Jonson hated). According to Stratfordians, William Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon was definitely an actor; according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything.
** As for Shakespeare being wealthy and the son of the wealthiest man in Stratford, being successful at business in Shakespeare's day did not require an education in anything other than basic business math. Yes, he was a successful merchant at ''something'' ("grain merchant" is often mentioned but this, like most Shakespeare "history", is also WildMassGuessing) which allowed him to buy a lot of land in Stratford, and not a peasant, but this is not evidence that he ever received an education.
*** One of the things we are certain about William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon is that he seems to have been '''''very good at business math''''', due to existing records showing him earning a kingly 60 pounds a year off estates purchased in Stratford, after he had already purchased the biggest house in Stratford. One of the things we are certain about William Shakespeare the Playwright is that he was '''''very bad at business math''''', one of the very few areas in which William Shakespeare the Playwright was not a genius.

** Performing play was not illegal until years after Shakespeare's death, when the Puritans took over England, under Oliver Cromwell. In fact, Shakespeare's troope was called the King's Men, because of royal patronage of King James.

*** A counter-argument in favor of him being the Playwright anyway is that since William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a letter home from London, yet somehow managed to become a successful businessman in Stratford, his wife Anne Hathaway may have been the real business genius in the family, doing business in his name back in Stratford. This would allow him to be awful at business math and still be the Playwright, while appearing in official documents to be a successful businessman.

** Ben Jonson [[url=http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html knew a William Shakespeare who was an actor]], and according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything. Mind you, it could simply be that the Stratfordians are wrong and William Shakespeare was never an actor.

** [[url=http://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/enigma/contemporary%20suspicions.html There were contemporary individuals who questioned the authorship of Shakespeare's plays]]. Ben Jonson himself appears to have known both an ''author'' named William Shakespeare (whom Jonson liked), and an ''actor'' named William Shakespeare (whom Jonson hated). According to Stratfordians, William Shakespeare of Stratford on Avon was definitely an actor; according to Ben Jonson, William Shakespeare the actor never wrote anything.
** As for Shakespeare being wealthy and the son of the wealthiest man in Stratford, being successful at business in Shakespeare's day did not require an education in anything other than basic business math. Yes, he was a successful merchant at ''something'' ("grain merchant" is often mentioned but this, like most Shakespeare "history", is also Wild Mass Guessing) which allowed him to buy a lot of land in Stratford, and not a peasant, but this is not evidence that he ever received an education.
*** One of the things we are certain about William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon is that he seems to have been '''very good at business math''', due to existing records showing him earning a kingly 60 pounds a year off estates purchased in Stratford, after he had already purchased the biggest house in Stratford. One of the things we are certain about William Shakespeare the Playwright is that he was '''very bad at business math''', one of the very few areas in which William Shakespeare the Playwright was not a genius.

* One of the few types of records that exist about William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon indicate that he was very good at business math, having made so much money off of something other than plays that he was able to revive his family business, buy the largest house in Stratford, and buy enough property in Stratford to earn himself a kingly 60 pounds a year in landlord income. An argument against him being William Shakespeare the Playwright is that Shakespeare the Playwright is spectacularly '''bad at math''', especially '''business math'''. A counter-argument in favor of him being the Playwright anyway is that since William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a letter home from London, yet somehow managed to become a successful businessman in Stratford, his wife Anne Hathaway may have been the real business genius in the family, doing business in his name back in Stratford. This would allow him to be awful at business math and still be the Playwright, while appearing in official documents to be a successful businessman.

* There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that William Creator/WilliamShakespeare was merely an actor and was used as a front for somebody else who wrote his famous plays. The finger is generally pointed at such notables as Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, and Edward de Vere, all based on shaky circumstantial evidence (which means that they all wrote the plays). MarkTwain was one of the earliest prominent believers in these theories, which means it's OlderThanRadio.

Okay, hear me out here. Banquo was murdered by a band of three murderers, right? But what about the mysterious third murderer who just appears out of nowhere? In one of the film adaptations, he kills the other two after Banquo dies. But it wasn't really Banquo, it was a body double that Banquo had hired. He knew that Macbeth was going to try and kill him. Fleance escaped because the third murderer (Banquo) went after him to instruct him to spread word of "Banquo's" demise. Banquo's ghost at the banquet was actually Banquo pretending to be his ghost. The reason for this was that if he could drive MacBeth insane with guilt, he would retire the throne. However, the rest of the people there (even Lady Macbeth) were in on this. You've noticed how Lady MacBeth seemed like she didn't want anymore killing, that's evidence that she doesn't approve of MacBeth anymore and wants him out of power. The reason Banquo's "ghost" only appears once is because there was a large group of people there (it's useless to go "insane" if there's no witnesses), ripe to spread rumors about their insane ruler.

[[WMG: Romeo and Juliet died because Mercutio [[APlagueOnBothYourHouses cursed their families]].]]

Second, S. made a number of elementary geographical mistakes in his plays -- one of the most famous (it was mocked by Ben Jonson) being that he had characters in ''The Winter's Tale'' shipwrecked on the coast of Bohemia. That's right -- shipwrecked on the coast of a landlocked country. Furthermore, in ''Two Gentlemen'' Valentine travels from Verona to Milan ''via'' ship. Yup -- both landlocked again. In the early play ''King John'' a Duke of Austria does appear -- called "Lymoges" by the playwright, who was apparently not aware that RichardTheLionheart's enemies Ademar V, Viscount of Limoges (in west-central France) and Leopold V, Duke of Austria, ruled territors some 950 miles apart. Third, the nomenclature of ''Measure For Measure'' consists of common English names, like Froth, Elbow, and Mistress Overdone; classical names like Escalus and Pompey; and ''Italian'' names like Vincentio (the Duke), Isabella, Claudio, Juliet, Angelo, Mariana, and Lucio -- and not one single German name! Finally, Shakespeare makes none of the two usual Jacobean jokes about the Germans -- the bagginess of their pants (a joke which he ''does'' make about "Austria" in ''King John'') nor even the ancient, universal, and certainly highly appropriate for ''Measure For Measure'' one about their drunkenness (a joke which he ''does'' make about the Duke of Saxony's nephew in ''Merchant of Venice''). Obviously, ol' Will couldn't tell the difference between Vienna and Verona, and proceeded accordingly.

** Which leaves the question that: If Bacon wrote Shakespeare, did Shakespeare ever write him back?

* There has been a tremendous amount of speculation that William Main/{{Shakespeare}} was merely an actor and was used as a front for somebody else who wrote his famous plays. The finger is generally pointed at such notables as Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth, Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, and Edward de Vere, all based on shaky circumstantial evidence (which means that they all wrote the plays). MarkTwain was one of the earliest prominent believers in these theories, which means it's OlderThanRadio.

[[WMG: The "pound of flesh" bargain in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'' is the result of Shylock and Antonio's dueling [[XanatosGambit Xanatos Gambits]].]]

* [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Mr. Norman Voles]] [[http://www.thestar.com/Article/257081 of Gravesend]] wrote the plays and his wife helped with the sonnets.

* Apparently, this isn't too far off from what happened in real life. Banquo was an accomplice in Macbeth's plot but Shakespeare made him a good guy because he as an ancestor of King James.