Shakespeare - Man or Myth?

Essay by And1kingUniversity, Master'sA+, June 2005

download word file, 2 pages 5.0

Was the man we know as Shakespeare really the author of

the "Shakespearean Works"? We know little about the man called

Shakespeare, Did he really write the plays, or is he just a man that

got confused within history? (Sobran 44) There is not even a

correct spelling of this mans name, Some of the spellings include

Shakspere, Shakespeare, And Shaxpere. Shakespeare, Is it the man, Or

is it another? (Hayes 1D)

Shakespeare is both fact and fiction, he was no concern until

nearly two hundred years after he perished, and there is still no

definite or probably will there ever be a conclusion to this

mystery. (Sobran 44) There is another man that can be attributed with

the works of "Shakespeare", His name is Edward DeVere, the 17th Earl

of Oxford. (Bethell 47)

The man known as Shakespeare does not fit perfectly into the

necessary criteria to determine the author of these works.

Thomas

Looney invented a series of criteria that had to be filled, in order

to be a possible candidate for the authorship of the Shakespearean

works. To have all the knowledge that is portrayed in the works, the

author must have accomplished many things. These including a superior

education, from what we know of "Shakespeare", this was not a

possibility.(Bethell 46) We do not even know if Shakespeare has ever

written anything in his life, Nor do we know that he was paid for

writing these works. The man Shakespeare does not even make a claim

that he is the author.(Bethell 50) He may not have been able to write

the simplest thing of all, His own name.(Hayes 1D)

Its not how little we know about Shakespeare that causes

confusion and difficulty, Its the things...