Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays?

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Possibly the greatest playwright to have ever lived, it is devastating (to me, atleast) to think that his works of art were not, well, his. Or that he even existed.
But, I don't buy into the Shakespeare authorship controversy. I simply don't believe it's true. I just don't.
Shakespeare was way too credited for his works during his liftetime.
He was known.
Oxfordians argue that his schooling was not recorded, but whose schooling was offically recorded during that time?
Nonetheless I do find it interesting to discuss the possibility of it.

a worthy read, examining oxfordian claims (you'll have to scroll down, there's a list):
http://shakespeareauthorship.com/#how
and brief excerpt from it:

1) Why don't I start with the claims of Oxfordians. Mark Anderson, way back in his second post as E of O, cited a study by Nina Green which found that the Earl of Oxford used "Shakespeare rare words" (i.e. those found in the Shakespeare canon ten times or fewer) at a rate of 30 percent in his letters, roughly the same rate found in Shakespeare's plays. Now, I don't know how accurate Green's numbers are or exactly what standards she used, but I'll assume for the sake of argument that the 30 percent figure is right. Unfortunately, it's virtually worthless as evidence of authorship, because it's been established that simply counting the Shakespeare rare words in a text cannot distinguish Shakespeare from other authors. A good summary of this issue is an article by M.W.A. Smith in the Spring-Summer 1989 Shakespeare Newsletter called "Linkages of Rare Words to Deduce Shakespearean Chronology and Authorship." Linkages of rare words have been used as evidence that Shakespeare wrote all kinds of disputed works, including King Leir, The Troublesome Reigne of King John, and Edmund Ironside, but the same kinds of linkages can be found between Shakespeare and works known to be by other authors, such as Kyd's Spanish Tragedy and Greene's James IV. Rare-word linkages can be used to approximately date works known on other grounds to be by Shakespeare, but they cannot distinguish Shakespeare from other authors. However, Don Foster's SHAXICON, which I'll discuss below, provides a wealth of evidence based on rare-word patterns which indirectly excludes Oxford from authorship of the plays.

obviously, very good points are made.

i'm not very informed on this subject, but it's interesting.

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HRH's picture

Interesting blog topic. I saw an article about this in my dad's Smithsonian and I've avoided the topic ever since. It ultimately doesn't matter who actually wrote them, so I'd rather just believe Shakespeare did and not have my mind poisoned by doubt.

And ignorant approach, yes, but for Shakespeare I will be ignorant.

"And ignorant approach, yes, but for Shakespeare I will be ignorant."

Haha. Yes, I will be also.

weezyf's picture

Meh, either way Shakespeare is not my kind of author.

Does it really matter though?

+mspin

Does it really matter though? No, but what does "really" matter?

ediblewoman's picture
Volunteer for the Progressive U Alumni Association

This is one of my favorite conspiracy theories! I'm a big dork with an English degree, though. Wouldn't it make a great "DaVinci Code" style movie?

And if you've never seen "Shakespeare in Love," you should. It isn't about the Earl of Oxford theory, but it presents some pretty comical explanations of how he came up with some if his material. It's fun, not historical.

http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman

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