TO BE, OR NOT TO BE...

"To be, or not to be..." You don't have to be a fan of Shakespeare to know that this is one of his works. Even if you are a novice and don't particularly have the attention span to read Shakespeare, everyone knows some of the work that he created, i.e. Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth.

We all had to learn about Shakespeare in school, maybe in multiple grades which as I remember was often accompanied by groans from my classmates. But, for over two centuries there has been a debate to whether Shakespeare actually penned the words for his works. It is a controversy that still exists today. Without further ado, let's look at some of these theories...

Some historical background would be prudent to start this off, and that works great because this is a post in History's Mysteries. One of the facts that lends some weight to the controversy about the actual authorship of Shakespeare's works is that we have volumes of plays and other artistic writing, but there is scarcely anything else supposedly written by Shakespeare.

According to the website www.bbcamerica.com, the only items that have been found to have any of Shakespeare's writing (other than his artistic works) are; a couple instances where he signed his name, a marriage certificate, a three-page will, a few business documents, and two portraits. What is missing is any of the knowledge of his education and copies of manuscripts in progress for his works.

Over the years, biographers have tried to obtain more information to tell the story of Shakespeare, but they have found very little. According to sources, a great deal of the scant information obtained has turned out to be untrue and it is thought Shakespeare deliberately misled people during his life.

He was a person that didn't travel much and from what many sources could find, had a limited educational background and the question was ignited, "How could he have written such profound works with these factors?"

Many think there is enough evidence to say that Shakespeare didn't write his own work, but if not him, then who? There have been several suggestions to the author of the works of William Shakespeare. The first person that was theorized had written the extensive works was Sir Frances Bacon.

Sir Frances Bacon was a major player in the English Renaissance in the late 1500's and the early 1600's. Some of the reasons that he is believed to be a possible author of these works is that he had a high status as a Viscount, was educated at Cambridge, had traveled extensively, was a philosopher, and was the leader of a literary society. It was theorized that the use of a pen-name by Sir Frances Bacon was because being a playwright would not fit in with the career he had and would tarnish his reputation. 

Another theory suggests the playwright could be Christopher Marlowe. He was already well known as a playwright and after this theory was born, some compared writings of Marlowe and Shakespeare and it indicated that the writings were nearly and exact match for the style and voice of the author. 

Yet another theory suggests that the playwright could be Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. He was a lawyer that was well traveled and had extensive knowledge of legal matters and was clearly close with the royal family at the time and was involved with many matters of politics.

It is said that he had also visited many of the locations of some of the most famous plays written by Shakespeare. Many theorize that the play Hamlet is a metaphorical depiction of events in de Vere's life with the main character being de Vere himself. There was once a private letter written to de Vere and in it were the code names of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern. 

Or maybe Shakespeare himself wrote the works of Shakespeare. What do you think? Another great example of History's Mysteries.

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