William Shakespeares works being just that is a notion most accept; however, there has been a lot of evidence and arguments by historians, who opt to challenge this notion, arguing that Shakespeare was the pen name of Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford had to conceal his authorship for social and political reasons. After careful examination of historians evidence this theory doesnt measure up and it was indeed Shakespeare, who was the genuine author. The world has come to accept that William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, during the year of 1564.
The register of Holy trinity, the parish church in Stratford, records his baptism on April 26. According to the custom at the time, infants were baptized about three days after their birth. Williams father was a glover, trader, and landowner who married Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowner of Wilmcote. Therefore, the generally accepted date for Shakespeares birth is April 23 (World Book 344). John Shakespeare, Williams father rose [by election] to the position of Alderman in 1565; and in 1568 he was elected Bailiff, the equivalent to mayor (Reedy & Kathman).
Its believed that because Williams father was a town official, the young William was entitled to a free education at the Kings school. It has been accepted [for the most part] that William Shakespeare attended the Stratford grammar school. The Stratford grammar school prepared students for the university; however there is no evidence that William ever attended a university. The reason being is when William Shakespeare was thirteen his father suffered business losses. William was pulled from school and apprenticed to a trade, not an uncommon occurrence during the Elizabethan Age.
William Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway in November 1582 at the age of eighteen. Anne was twenty-six. It would only be six months later that their daughter, Susanna was born. William also had a set of twins in February 1585. Between the years of 1585-1590, Shakespeare disappeared. We considered these years as his lost years mainly because there has yet to be found any documentation or know whereabouts of him. Its accepted that Shakespeare was in London by 1590 working as an actor and playwright. Approximately for twenty-three years he was a working member of a London acting company.
The acting companies of this time were commercial organizations that depended on the price of admission for their income. Shakespeare even went on to become a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlains Men-the most popular company in London-a Company that he also acted in. They performed for the Queen [Elizabeth]. Shakespeare also wrote plays for his company, which took up the majority of his time; however he managed to become a sharer in the Globe Theater and was expected to help in staging the plays. From 1594 till 1608 he was fully involved the London theater world; in addition he was pumping out the average of two plays a year for his company.
Shake as writer was ranked as Londons most popular playwright, based on the number of times his plays were performed and published (World Book 346). His hard work made him very successful, he purchased New Place, one of the largest houses in Stratford-on-Avon. Shakespeare’s heart was always at home in Stratford despite his busy life in London away from his family. Shakespeare would also go on to purchase other real estate in Stratford and London. In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died and was succeeded by her cousin James VI of Scotland. As kind of England, he became James I.
King James I changed the Lord Chamberlains Men into the Kings Men (World Book 346). William Shakespeare would semi-retire from London life some time around 1610 (Reedy and Kathman). Before this paper goes on to talk about the authorship debate of Shakespeare it is necessary to know what Shakespeares London was like during the Elizabethan Age. The city of London, as Shakespeare came to know it was a crowded, unsanitary city, these conditions led to frequent epidemics of plague in which thousands died. The streets were crowded because London was the commercial and banking center of England.
London was one of the worlds chief trading centers and Englands capital city. It was because of its importance it attracted people from the different walks of life trying to get a slice of the pie, just as New York City is the capital of the world today. Knowing how Shakespeare was so active in this city life its easy to see how the characters he penned came out of his daily experiences and dealings. The World Book Encyclopedia states that Shakespeares works reflect the cultural, social, and political conditions of the Elizabethan Age (348). The people of this time were constantly in fear of plague, so they were intensely aware of death.
Death and violence fascinated them. Executions and torture were spectacles. Elizabethan literature mirrored the violence and death that played a major part of everyday life. Shakespeares plays are filled with characters that are either murdered or commit suicide. On the flip side, Elizabethans were extremely sensitive to beauty and grace. During this time, the English cared little about keeping biographical information unrelated to affairs of the church or state. Playwrighting was not a highly regarded occupation; knowing this they saw no need to record in any form dramatists.
Much of the concrete factual information we know of Shakespeare and playwrights such as him comes from church registers and accounts of business dealings and sometimes these documentations dont exist. Scholars have to do a lot of detective work, which is the case for Shakespeare, relating those records to various aspects of Elizabethan history and society, and fill in the gaps yourself. [write about a mini intro as to why his works werent given much concern until] During the 1800s, admiration for Shakespeare grew so intense that it resulted in a critical-uncritical to some-attitude toward the man and his works.
These particular people admired the plays that they refused to believe an actor could have written them. The idea that a man as common as Shakespeare writing the literary masterpieces did not fit the image of the genius that was thought of to have written masterpieces. The Elizabethan period witnessed the spread of capitalism, the growth of trade and industry, and the beginnings of colonization in the Western Hemisphere One of the biggest theories that have been entertained over the course of history is that whoever wrote Shakespeares Works, must have been written by an educated aristocrat.
Only someone intimately familiar with court life, they assert, could have written as realistically about kings and dukes and the corridors of power (Kathman). The Anti-Strafordians’, those who deny Shakespeare being the true author, have many canidates for the title of Shakespeare. However, their favorite candidate for the true author is Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. The Earl of Oxford was a descendant of a family that had served at the right hand of the English monarchy beginning with the Norman Invasion of 1066 (Frontline). Oxford was a very intelligent aristocrat who earned a degree when he was still a very young boy.
The plots found in many of Shakespeares plays have paralleled the life of Oxford in particular Hamlet. Oxfords father died when he was a young man and his mother also remarried quickly after his fathers death. Oxford was sent to become a royal ward in the house of Lord Burghley, a trusted advisor to Elizabeth for forty years, one of the most important men in England (Frontline). Being how exposed to political power it is quite obvious as to why he became a popular candidate. Oxford toured Europe, so he would have gained a first hand knowledge of the different settings and cultures that are present in the various plots of Shakespeares plays.
Oxford makes a convincing Hamlet. Hamlet was a royal, Oxford a premier noblemen at the English court. Both lost their fathers and werent pleased with the men who became their stepfathers. Another interesting statement is that like Hamlet, Oxford maintained a company of actors, was skilled in music, knew Italy, fought a duel and killed a man in his guardians house (Michel 169). What puts the Oxford case to bed is Oxford is believed to have died some time before some of the first stagings of Shakespeares plays appeared. Oxford was too old and died too early to have been the real Shakespeare (Michell 171).
Oxford did not leave a will. If he were to have left a will, Oxfordians and Anti-Strafordians would have no doubt have more weight to their theory, thats if his will contained Shakespeare plays and sonnets. The 17th Earl of Oxford was a recognized poet in his day, and the Oxfordians make the most of this in their attempts to prove that he wrote the works of Shakespeare. There is evidence presented about his reputation in actual context of the times and shows that while Oxford work had some admirers, but dont all authors have some admirers, nobody seems to have considered him a great poet or playwright.
