So who really was William Shakespeare?

This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 4 months ago by wv.

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November 22, 2017 at 12:13 pm #77829

PA Ram
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I didn’t realize that Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Henry James among others, all questioned the true writer of the Shakespeare poems and plays. This is an older documentary about it.

I recently heard about the Christopher Marlowe conspiracy as well–which is a bit interesting, if morbid.

I’m not sure who he really was–but it does seem like a stretch to believe it was the country bumpkin who seemed to have trouble writing his name.

Anyway–interesting stuff. I guess we will never really know.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick

November 22, 2017 at 2:21 pm #77832

zn
Moderator

PA Ram wrote:

I didn’t realize that Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Henry James among others, all questioned the true writer of the Shakespeare poems and plays. This is an older documentary about it.

Recent scholarship has pretty much killed the “was Shakespeare Shakespeare” issue. It’s just not questioned anymore.

Twain, Dickens, and James had no basis of knowing and their questions are all based on faulty premises in the first place.

Over the years archival research has found out a great deal that just adds up to a more definitive picture. For example we know that records of Shakespeare’s property purchases and investments in the Globe theater (where most of his plays were produced) and the Globe;s theater company made him a wealthy man.

from the wiki:

academic Shakespeareans and literary historians rely on direct documentary evidence—in the form of title page attributions and government records such as the Stationers’ Register and the Accounts of the Revels Office—and contemporary testimony from poets, historians, and those players and playwrights who worked with him. Scholars say all these converge to confirm William Shakespeare’s authorship. These criteria are the same as those used to credit works to other authors and are accepted as the standard methodology for authorship attribution.

November 23, 2017 at 10:44 am #77871

PA Ram
Participant

Well, I certainly don’t have the time to dig into all of that scholarly nonsense.

I’ll go with YouTube videos and Mark Twain.

I think it’s more interesting if we don’t know who really wrote the poems and plays. Endless speculation is a fun activity.

In any case–I kind of thought you might weigh in on the subject. I appreciate the modern take on this. I think the video I posted was from the ’80s. I think it’s kind of funny how offended the Stafford guy gets in the video. I actually think this would make a great little film–two old guys on opposite sides battling it out with insults and escalating pranks, Maybe a dark comedy. Starring Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer.

In any case, I accept the modern take but it really does take all the fun out of it.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick

November 23, 2017 at 10:50 am #77872

zn
Moderator

PA Ram wrote:

In any case, I accept the modern take but it really does take all the fun out of it.

Well it’s thanksgiving. To celebrate thanksgiving, I like to play “spoilsport” and throw water on interesting conversations. That’s in the spirit of real thanksgiving, which was like, hey sorry we brought smallpox here have some corn.

In the spirit of playing spoilsport, I’ve prepared a lengthy post titled “Sean McVay: mere wannabe, or outright fraud?”

…

November 23, 2017 at 11:56 am #77878

wv
Participant

I wonder if stephen king is really stephen king. I mean, how could the man who wrote ‘The Stand’ also write ‘Blockade Billy’ ?

————

PS, this guy ranks Kings books
King:http://thetruthinsidethelie.blogspot.com/2013/10/worst-to-best-stephen-king-books.html
…and puts this one at number One:

November 29, 2017 at 3:31 pm #78079

Zooey
Participant

PA Ram wrote:

. I actually think this would make a great little film–two old guys on opposite sides battling it out with insults and escalating pranks, Maybe a dark comedy. Starring Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521197/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I heard this movie wasn’t very good. I saw it in the theatre (maybe its stage debut?) at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival several years ago, and thought the play was great.

November 29, 2017 at 6:58 pm #78088

wv
Participant

shakesp:https://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-facts/

“…William Shakespeare Facts: 7
There are more than 80 variations recorded for the spelling of Shakespeare’s name. In the few original signatures that have survived, Shakespeare spelt his name “Willm Shaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,” “William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare”. There are no records of him ever having spelt it “William Shakespeare”, as we know him today.”

“…William Shakespeare Facts: 14
Sometime after his unsuccessful application to become a gentleman, Shakespeare took his father to the College of Arms to secure their own Shakespeare family crest. The crest was a yellow spear on a yellow shield, with the Latin inscription “Non Sans Droict”, or “Not without Right”.

William Shakespeare Facts: 36
The moons of Uranus were originally named in 1852 after magical spirits from English literature. The International Astronomy Union subsequently developed the convention to name all further moons of Uranus (of which there are 27) after characters in Shakespeare’s plays or Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.
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