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| Shakespeare authorship question | |
|---|---|
| Name | William Shakespeare (as traditionally attributed) |
| Birth date | 1564 |
| Death date | 1616 |
| Notable works | Hamlet; Macbeth; King Lear; A Midsummer Night's Dream; Romeo and Juliet |
Shakespeare authorship question
The Shakespeare authorship question concerns debate over the authorship of plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. Proponents and critics invoke documentary evidence from Elizabeth I, James I of England, Lord Chamberlain's Men, King's Men, Stationers' Register, and printers such as Edward Blount and William Jaggard, as well as literary comparisons involving Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
The controversy emerged in the 19th century amid renewed interest in William Shakespeare's life and the discovery of biographical lacunae in records from Stratford-upon-Avon, London, Middle Temple, and parish registers. Debates reference contemporaneous figures such as Ben Jonson, John Heminges, Henry Condell, Philip Henslowe, Thomas Nashe, and institutions like the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars Theatre. Nineteenth-century writers including Delia Bacon and J. Thomas Looney linked authorship questions to Victorian literary criticism, while modern researchers cite archival work by Edward Capell, Nicholas Rowe, and scholars associated with Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Supporters cite documentary evidence: baptism, marriage, and burial entries in Stratford-upon-Avon parish registers; testimony by contemporaries such as Ben Jonson and entries in the Stationers' Register; title pages of quartos and the 1623 First Folio edited by John Heminges and Henry Condell. Textual continuity is argued through comparisons with works attributed to Robert Greene and Thomas Dekker, theater records from Henslowe's Diary, and legal documents like the 1632 estate records and court proceedings mentioning Shakespeare's name. Bibliographers reference printers and booksellers like William Jaggard, Edward Blount, Nicholas Ling, and Richard Field to trace publication history supporting Stratford authorship.
Alternative theories propose various candidates, notably Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe, William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, and less commonly Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland or Christopher Hatton. Proposals often draw on biographical parallels with aristocratic patrons such as Edward de Vere's connections to Elizabeth I's court, alleged cipher theories invoking Francis Bacon's ciphers, or claims of secret authorship associated with Christopher Marlowe's reported death and ties to Theobald's Chronicle. Advocates include J. Thomas Looney, Delia Bacon, Abel Lefranc, Archibald H. R. Taylor, and modern popularizers like Charles Wisner Barrell and Mark Anderson.
Scholarly investigation employs paleography, codicology, and archival research in repositories such as the Bodleian Libraries, the British Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and municipal records of Stratford-upon-Avon. Stylometric analysis draws on computational methods compared to corpora of Ben Jonson's prose, Christopher Marlowe's plays, Thomas Kyd's works, and Francis Bacon's essays. Textual criticism uses quartos, the First Folio, and manuscript fragments like the Sir Thomas More additions. Forensic linguistics and handwriting comparison reference exemplars by John Florio, Richard Topcliffe, and legal hands in Court of Chancery documents. Biographical reconstruction relies on wills, property deeds, and municipal records involving figures such as John Shakespeare, Mary Arden, Richard Burbage, and William Kempe.
The question has influenced biographies, theatrical productions, and media: novels and films invoking Edward de Vere or Francis Bacon; documentaries aired by broadcasters like the BBC; stage adaptations staged at the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre; and debates in journals such as The Times Literary Supplement and Shakespeare Quarterly. Popular interest spurred societies including the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, and the Baconian Society, and has shaped museum exhibits at Stratford-upon-Avon and archival displays at the Folger Shakespeare Library and the British Library.
Major controversies hinge on the interpretation of contemporaneous testimony from Ben Jonson, the editorial role of John Heminges and Henry Condell in the First Folio, the significance of Stratford documentary gaps, and the methodological validity of cipher claims advanced by proponents linked to Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere. Critics challenge alternative theories on grounds articulated by scholars at Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and within peer-reviewed forums such as Modern Philology and Shakespeare Survey. Ongoing disputes involve stylometric counterarguments, provenance of quarto texts printed by Nicholas Ling, and legal-historical readings of municipal records involving John Shakespeare and Mary Arden.