Who wrote Shakespeare plays - Research Paper Example

 Who wrote Shakespeare plays? Many people over the past years have been contented with the work that changed English literature forever, an Englishman born in the year 1564 and died in the year 1616 by the name of William Shakespeare. Other people, however, view the man in a different angle arguing that he was not the author of his plays. These people don't doubt that the William Shakespeare plays and writings are sublime and foundational. They argue in the aspect that the elements of Shakespeare canon are not compatible with his own biography; they believe that Shakespeare did not write the Shakespeare. The question about the authorship of William Shakespeare is a very controversial topic and has been for centuries now, and it likely to stir more controversy as time passes. This topic drives the English scholar mad, many of the past thinkers such as Charles Dickens, Sigmund Freud and Orson Welles resulted to this, this were among the past scholars that did not believe that Shakespeare penned his famous play. Currently the movie ‘anonymous' the main cause of the doubt, the movie is based on a theory that someone else wrote the Shakespeare play. The controversy began back in 1857 when an American writer by the name of Delia Bacon published the book named ‘the philosophy of the plays of Shakespeare unfolded.' In this book, Delia argued that the past Englishmen such as Lord Francis Bacon wrote the plays, this assertions by Delia opened many minds and resulted in many controversies. Question stirred on whether the allegations in the book by Delia true. After the publishing of the book, other contenders that supported Delias came up; they included Christopher Marlowe, Earl of Essex, the earl of Oxford, the Earl of Derby and even Queen Elizabeth herself. Some of the scholars defend their arguments with what was written on Shakespeare epitaph carved on his gravestone, the epitaph read; "good friend, for Jesus sake, forebear to dig the dust enclosed here, Blessed be the man who spares this stones, and crushed be he, who moves my bones.” The scholars then compare the epitaph to some of the writings from Shakespeare play such as, "and all our yesterdays have lighted fools, the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life's but a walking shadow…" analyzing the two texts, from the epitaph and from his plays it was evident that the creativity in the play overpassed the writings on the epitaph by far. So this brought the main questions; how can a man who wrote the same play use those words in his epitaph? Other documents from Shakespeare also proved that he was not a pro in literature as his plays display. Many of these documents somehow show Shakespeare as am the man who was just a businessman, and a man who always was delinquent in paying his taxes. This makes Shakespeare the only writer of his time whose work has no contemporary evidence. These arguments about Shakespeare not being the author of his plays brought about four controversial theories. The first theory argues that since William Shakespeare had a common birth, there was no way he could have grasped the languages, the poetry theory, the classics, and the history to write such poems. The works by Shakespeare required a highly intelligent and educated man with a lot of knowledge. The second theory argues that that given the number of plays, shonets and poems by William Shakespeare, it was impossible for a single man to produce so extensive and such perfect body of works. The third controversial theory argues that structurally and linguistically, both the language that Shakespeare spoke and the style in the plays are far too varied (evident from the words of his epitaph and those in his plays). This theory hence points several authors that do not necessarily include William Shakespeare. The fourth controversial theory argues in the aspect that there was very little documentation that linked William Shakespeare to the writings and plays associated with him; hence, it should not be conclusive that William Shakespeare wrote his plays Some historical records show the will of his possessions distributions, among his wealth possessions, included his second best bed. In this will, he distributed his most precious possession; however at no point in his will did he mention anything about his literature works. There was no record whatsoever that Shakespeare even owned any books, wrote any poems or plays. His signatures were only in his legal documents only, another book by Diana price "Shakespeare unorthodox biography" argues that the reader and the fans of this Shakespeare work do not have even the slightest idea of how he learned his languages, how he gained his exposure to the lifestyle he lived, how he received his education and even how he had access to the court (Shakespeare was among the power playing members of the court). Many of the scholars that argue about Shakespeare plays believe that other linguists and literature pros wrote his works However even with the many controversies on Shakespeare play, I take a stand on the fact that Shakespeare wrote his plays and other literature works. There is solid evident that proves that William Shakespeare was the author of his plays and poems; Shakespeare also within a period of his life became an actor in some of his plays. Even with the controversy on who wrote the Shakespeare poems there is no evidence that he didn't and none of the opposers have evidence or even a name of who wrote the Shakespeare poems. Also, no evidence proves that the actor Shakespeare was not the writer William Shakespeare, those who oppose the fact that Shakespeare wrote his poems do not provide evidence to prove that the names used by Shakespeare was pseudonym. One of the main evidence that Shakespeare wrote the poems is the fact that the name "William Shakespeare" appears in all his plays and poems. Many of the poems, even those that have undergone editing over the years still approve of Shakespeare as the author. Another evidence to show that William Shakespeare was the author of his plays is the fact that he was among the actors in the company that performed his plays. Even with the doubts of Shakespeare works it is still evident that he was the author of all his plays, this is because many scholars that doubt his work fail to provide solid evidence that prove that Shakespeare did not write his work. The monument to Shakespeare of ‘Stratford-upon-Avon' compares Shakespeare with Virgil and Socrates, two of the most known linguistics of all time Work cited Shakespeare Write His Plays? (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.williamshakespearefacts.net/did-shakespeare-write-his-plays.html Read More