The Question of Authorship: William Shakespeare

Starting with William Shakespeare’s early childhood, it is known that his parents were illiterate. So, how could a child of illiterate parents be a writer? Secondly, it is known that he only had a grammar-school education before heading to London.

Coming from a common birth, there is no way he could grasp the necessary knowledge of languages, the classics, political theory, and history, needed to write such works; whereas a high class born and educated man would. Linguistically and structurally, it has been suggested that both the language and writing style is far too varied, and would therefore point to a number of authors, not necessarily including Shakespeare. In Elizabethan times, there was a well-known actor that went by the name of William Shaxper or Shakepere. There was never a playwright named William Shakespeare. Given the number of plays, poems, and sonnets, it would be impossible for someone to produce such an extensive body of work in their lifetime.

A few lines in Shakespeare’s plays referred explicitly to contemporary events, at the time, such as the allusion in Henry the Fifth to the Earl of Essex’s Irish campaign in the spring and summer of 1599. Hearing the penitent earl’s last words can give an allusion to Hamlet. His last words were: “send thy blessed angels, which may receive my soul, and convey it to the joys of heaven.” They can relate to Hamlet because it sounds like Horatio speaking over Hamlet’s dead body, saying: “flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” Based on the points shown above, one can only believe that Shakespeare did not write his own works. Evidence points toward the Earl of Oxford being the true author.

“William Shakespeare” was merely a lowly actor.