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“Who wrote Shakespeare?”
Does it really matter? Would it lessen the literary value of Hamlet if it were written by the Earl of Oxford?
This stuff comes from “deconstructionist” academics who are on a never-ending mission to unmask big daddy.
There is no other real reason to doubt that Shakespear wrote the plays that he said he wrote, for the troop that performed them.
Moreover, as the “popular entertainment” of the day; it was seen as no more classy or high falutin’ than a TV sitcom.
T’Pols Grandfather
We know even less about our current de facto president. Amazing, isn’t it?
. . . The Most Interesting Man in the World.
My two favorite suggestions for alternative authorship of Shakespeare’s plays are (in no particular order):
1. A committee composed mostly of, noblemen headed by none other than the Sovereign, Elizabeth I (who actually had a major hand in the writing, which is why the quality of “Shakespeare’s” later plays, written after her death suffered), which included Shakespeare himself, who served as a front-man for the enterprise.
and
2. They were not written by William Shakespeare, but by another man of the same name.
A question that’s been asked for many, many decades. I used to think Sir Francis Bacon was the likely culprit, but now believe the author of Shakespeare to be...
Shakespeare.
“I know not, sir, whether Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare, but if he did not seems to me that he missed the opportunity of his life.” — James Barrie (1860 - 1937)
Ordinarily I don’t go for history-mystery stuff, but the Oxfordians make a great case.
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Barry Obama, who had it all written by William Ayers.
So simple even a caveman can see it.
Gunner
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It is fascinating to consider but even more interesting is the great Leo Tolstoy’s belief that Shakespeare is less than relevant ...and worse anyway...highly recommended.
http://books.google.com/books?id=yJYfDNPQ7vEC
Poems were important to authors back then. Plays...not so much.
Well, we'll never really know for certain.
A man hearing a theory knows the answer. A man hearing many theories is never sure.
Author James Shapiro (CC77) is the Larry Miller Professorof English and has been teaching the core curriculum course on Shakespeare for many years.
You might want to send a Columbia ping.
Best Shakespeare Biography ever!