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Is Shakespeare Really Who We Think He Is? Was the man we know as Shakespeare really the author of the "Shakespearean Works"? We know little about the man called Shakespeare, Did he really write the plays, or is he just a man that got confused within history? (Sobran 44) There is not even a correct spelling of this mans name, Some of the spellings include Shakespeare, Shakespeare, And Shaxpere. Shakespeare, Is it the man, Or is it another? (Hayes 1 D) Shakespeare is both fact and fiction, he was no concern until nearly two hundred years after he perished, and there is still no definite or probably will there ever be a conclusion to this mystery. (Sobran 44) There is another man that can be attributed with the works of "Shakespeare", His name is Edward De Vere, the 17 th Earl of Oxford. (Bethell 47) The man known as Shakespeare does not fit perfectly into the necessary criteria to determine the author of these works. Thomas Looney invented a series of criteria that had to be filled, in order to be a possible candidate for the authorship of the Shakespearean works. To have all the knowledge that is portrayed in the works, the author must have accomplished many things.
These including a superior education, from what we know of "Shakespeare", this was not a possibility. (Bethell 46) We do not even know if Shakespeare has ever written anything in his life, Nor do we know that he was paid for writing these works. The man Shakespeare does not even make a claim that he is the author. (Bethell 50) He may not have been able to write the simplest thing of all, His own name. (Hayes 1 D) Its not how little we know about Shakespeare that causes confusion and difficulty, Its the things that we do know about this man that cause the confusion and difficulty. We know Shakespeare father, a glover, trader, and landowner, could not write. When he signed documents, he simply made an "X", This is why it is believed that Shakespeare could not write also, Because he probably did not attend school therefore his education was passed down from his father. (Bethell 48) Shakespeare's farther married Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowner of Wilmcote. John Shakespeare was ambitious, We do know much more about the man Edward De Vere. We know that because de Vere was a nobleman, he could not have his name written upon his writings because he would be considered of a lower class.
The plays contain a sense of hate towards some of the noblemen of that time period, which also point the authorship towards De Vere. (Hayes 1 D) When De Vere was a young man, he spent a lot of time in Italy and Europe, This could explain the great detail used in the Shakespearean plays of Venice, and other European locations. (Sobran 45) The sonnets have never been able to fit into Shakespeare life, On the other hand they fit into De Vere's life well. (Sobran 45) There are facts that lean both ways in this age old mystery of authorship, Though the Strafordian man does not fit into the story very well, He may have some advantages that the Oxfordian man may not. De Vere on the other hand, has mostly every fact pointing towards him as the valid author for the "Shakespearean" works, From his education, to his experiences, to his travel. The Oxfordian seems to come out on top. How do we know that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare? . We dont actually, We can only assume that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.
Yet there will always be the people who feel that he didnt write his own work and say that he is just a myth and not a man. The world can only be in wonder if Shakespeare wrote his own work because there is no evidence that he really did. Even if there was there would still be the people who say that he didnt. Bibliography:
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