The Debate of Authorship

Due to the remarkable popularity of Shakespeare over such a length of time it is no surprise that there have been speculations made regarding the identity of the beloved playwright and poet. There is little information to base whether William Shakespeare truly wrote the many brilliant plays we recognize him. It seems unlikely than a man of his background could have written the pieces we now revel. And it is the lack of solid evidence on either side that makes the authorship of the plays an interesting one. There are many speculations but some of the more interesting ones are simply that William Shakespeare was a pseudonym.

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford is a popularly suspected of having penned plays under the pseudonym of Shakespeare. And in a respect it makes sense, many occurrences in his life are close parallels to life inside the Shakespearean plays. And after all that makes sense as its real life experiences from which most people gather inspiration from for their creative pieces. He also had an extensive amount of school included that of Queen’s College in Cambridge and he continued to get legal training. The extent of his schooling makes it seem more likely that he could have written these great works in comparison to William Shakespeare who had very little schooling.

Christopher Marlow completely fulfills the romanticism of Shakespeare simply being a pseudonym to another author. Christopher Marlowe was a known Elizabethan poet and tragedian. He was also known for his use of the Blank Verse, a style of poetry where there is rhythm, but no rhyme, the same style that is used in Shakespeare’s plays. He was allegedly murdered, stabbed to death, in a pub by Ingram Frizer on May 30, ten days after an arrest warrant was issued for him. All accounts of his death lack detail and he was buried in an unmarked grave. Due to the murky details and the similarity in his writing style to Shakespeare some people have come to believe it was actually Christopher Marlow who penned the many plays we know to be by Shakespeare after faking his own death in order to escape the arrest.

While we may never know who truly penned the works of Shakespeare unless we find a journal left by someone who knew it is fun to fantasize about. And with something of this proportion the suggested theories are bound to be crazier than the truth. I’d like to be a true romantic and believe that the true playwright behind the amazing plays was Christopher Marlow, a man who was so passionate about his art that he staged his own death in order to continue pursuing it. Perhaps William Shakespeare was merely the man who physically stood behind it so it could be presented without Marlow having to worry that someone would recognize him. We’ll likely never know.

Pressley, J. M.. "The Authorship Debate". Shakespeare Resource Center. May 23, 2010 .

"Christopher Marlowe". Wikipedia. May 23, 2010 .

“Blank Verse”. Wikipedia. May 23, 2010 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank_verse>

"Shakespeare Authorship FAQ". Shakespear-Oxford Society. May 23, 2010 .

Goldstein, Gary. "The Life of Edward de Ver". Elizabethan Review. May 23, 2010 .