Who Was Shakespeare?
Essay Preview: Who Was Shakespeare?
Report this essay
This question is one that has bothered the literary world for some time, however, there is very little doubt in my mind that William Shakespeare was not, indeed, from Stratford-upon-Avon and was, in fact, Sir Francis Bacon, the English philosopher, essayist, and statesman.
The most important reason for this is that we know very little about the Stratfordian Will Shakespeare, and what we do know is discouraging to prove that he, indeed, write the works that he is attributed to.
One of the few things that we know about Shakespeare is that his father, wife, and at least one of his two daughters were illiterate beyond signing their own names, which brings the question of Shakespeares obvious gift with words into question. Would he not at least send his daughters to school, or teach them himself? From what we can see of Shakespeares actual signatures, many were spelled differently, and they were scratchy and almost illegible.
Another thing that the Stratfordian Shakespeare doesnt have is a noble title or anything of the sort. It is said that after he amassed some wealth trading, he bought himself a gentlemans title and a coat of arms, but this still does not explain his vast knowledge of courts and the noble life that is represented so accurately in some of his plays.
In addition to all of this, in the Stratfordian Shakespeares will, there was no mention of manuscripts, books, plays, or anything of the sort, even though it was very long and documented. Would not the real Shakespeare at least mention his valuable plays and sonnets and poems, his lifes work, in his will? Yes, he would, and this is another good reason for determining that the Stratfordian Shakespeare was not the great playwright that everyone thinks that he is.
Therefore, we have determined that William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon was not, indeed, the William Shakespeare that has plays, poems, sonnets and other literary works attributed to him. This still leaves the question, however, who was Shakespeare then? The answer to this question lies in Sir Francis Bacon, who was most certainly literate, spent a good amount of time in the noble courts, was educated at Cambridge, and, most importantly, was alive during the time of Will Shakespeares works being published, unlike the other candidates (Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and Christopher Marlowe, influential English playwright).
One of the