Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare?

Shakespeare is relevant. Even if you're not familiar with Shakespeare's works, you are almost certainly aware of his name and legacy – regardless of your native language or country of origin.

Over four hundred years after his death, you can search Shakespeare and Luxembourg on Google and find an upcoming event acknowledging his name – be it small private performances, or on a larger scale at venues like the Grand Theatre.

Local pupils will know Neumünster Abbey has, on more than one occasion, been the location for an international Shakespeare Schools Festival, that draws schools from across Luxembourg, France, and Belgium, for a series of performances by children that celebrate his work – ensuring Shakespeare's legacy in the region prevails.

At your workplace, you likely use expressions that have become cornerstones of English idiomatic expression; phrases like, sterner stuff, what's done is done, we have seen better days, and too much of a good thing.

Chances are, if you speak English, you quote Shakespeare on a regular basis and do not know it. Shakespeare's words, and the timeless relevance of his work are embedded in our language, our music, and our films – often without any recognition of their origins.

But did William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, write a word of it?

For quite some time, there have been those who argue that Shakespeare was not the true author of the works bearing his name. Alternative authorship theories have long been dismissed – or even ridiculed – by Stratfordians – those who maintain that the man from Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the plays – as well as by much of the academic community..

Origins of the authorship question

Starting in the early-to-mid 1800s, a woman called Delia Bacon put forth the idea that Shakespeare's works were the end result of a writer's room led primarily by the statesman Sir Francis Bacon. Since then, names like Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe are often banded around as alternative authors and collaborators who worked with Bacon.

Delia Bacon's name did not escape those who criticised her, who thought her thesis an attempt at self-aggrandisement through proxy. That being said, it was common in early modern England for plays to be a collaborative effort – just as most films have multiple writers today.

Why does the question persist?

At the heart of the authorship question, is the incongruent idea that a simple grammar-school-educated son of a glove maker could have intimate understanding of the nuanced and complicated world of the royal court, the streets of Verona (without leaving England), and a litany of legal terminology more fitting of someone high-born.

To support alternative authorship claims, proponents often point to the lack of contemporary evidence confirming that Shakespeare was the true author – though, of course, a lack of evidence is not necessarily a lack of truth. However, the absence of a single surviving manuscript in Shakespeare’s own hand – combined with the fact that substantial recognition came only with the posthumous publication of the First Folio in 1623 – arguably carries circumstantial weight for non-Stratfordians.

To further complicate the matter, it was proved beyond reasonable doubt, through linguistic analysis by the University of Oxford in 2016, that Marlowe was at least a co-author of the three Henry VI plays – traditionally attributed to Shakespeare.

A Looney idea

The majority of modern critics of the Stratfordian theory assert that a gentleman named Edward de Vere wrote what we now recognise as the Shakespearean plays and sonnets. Oxfordians – those who believe Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was the true author – have developed an increasingly compelling body of evidence over several decades to support their case.

Oxfordianism is founded on an idea first proposed by J. Thomas Looney in the 1920s. His contemporary, Sigmund Freud, would likely have found him a Looney in name only – Freud, too, was an Oxfordian.

Waugh's legacy

In more recent history, the grandson of Evelyn Waugh, Alexander Waugh, dedicated much of his life's work to expanding and exploring a series of allusions, hidden codes, and early modern mysteries to support that Edward de Vere was the true author of Shakespeare's accredited work.  Famous actors, such as Sir Derek Jacobi, Mark Rylance, and Michael York, were vocal in their support for Waugh and often attended talks, events, and debates on the subject.

Sadly, Alexander Waugh passed away last year, but his life's work is survived by groups like the Shakespearian Oxford Fellowship (SOF) and the de Vere Society, who all continue to argue for a revision of the authorship question. For those who are interested, a great deal of Waugh's entertaining videos, talks, and presentations remain on Youtube, and offer entry to the Oxfordian rabbit hole – best served with an earthy red and plenty of crackers and cheese.

The truth, as Sir Francis Bacon says, is “a hill that cannot be conquered” – and the question of true authorship may well remain unconquered, with much evidence lost to the passing of over half a millennium. Still, the enigmatic and compelling work of Alexander Waugh – along with the intrigue of Elizabethan England, more complex and mysterious than fiction – will no doubt continue to fascinate us. Perhaps not quite as much, however, as the enduring legend of the Bard – whoever he truly was.

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