Who Really Wrote Shakespeare? - Part 1

One of the main questions that is often asked about my friend, Mr. William Shakespeare is, did he really write his plays?

This might not be such a dumb question as it sounds as many famous people, including those connected with the theatre, such as the actor, Derek Jacobi, don't believe he did. Sigmund Freud is another example of this. He believed that Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford (1550-1604) wrote them, while Mark Twain believed that Sir Francis Bacon(1561-1626) wrote Macbeth and Hamlet etc.

But let us start at the beginning. First of all, the question 'Who Wrote Shakespeare?' is not one that is confined to a few sceptic disbelievers. Look it up on Google and you will find over 376,000 (!) references to it. This question is also not a new one. It was started by a Warwickshire clergyman, Rev. James Wilmot (1726-1808) about 250 years ago. 

This worthy man of the cloth lived at Barton-on-the-Heath a few miles north of Stratford-upon-Avon and he decided to write a biography about his famous, now deceased fellow county man. To carry out the necessary research, he travelled around the area, checking out local private libraries and collections looking for copies of Shakespeare's plays and books that had belonged to the bard. He didn't find a single one. After carrying out some exhaustive searches, he didn't find any written or positive proof that WS had written any of his plays. As a result, Rev. Wilmot came to the conclusion that:
       
      1) The plays must have been written by a well-travelled,
            well-educated aristocrat who had the time and money.
      2) The writer of the play must have been knowledgeable
           about law, medicine, science and military matters.
      3) The only man who could have fit the above bill had to be
           Viscount St. Albans, Sir Francis Bacon.

After all, this well-connected courtly aristocrat was also a well-known author and essayist.

However, there is one major problem with this theory. Even though his life-span paralleled that of Shakespeare's, this highly educated polymath was far too busy with his legal and scientific work to have had the time to sit down and pen Othello, and Much Ado etc.

It is true that he did write various works, including Promus, but if you look at the following basic details of his life's work you will agree with me (and others) that Bacon is not Shakespeare.

                       From: "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" by John Michell

During his adult life he was an MP (1584), was a private tutor to the Earl of Essex (1591), was imprisoned for his part in Essex's failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I (1601), worked as a negotiator for James I re. an Anglo-Scottish reunion (1604), Solicitor-General (1607), Attorney-General (1613), Privy Councillor (1616), Lord Keeper (1617), Lord Chancellor (1618) and then was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a while having been found guilty of bribery and corruption.

However, this is not the end of the 'Bacon is Shakespeare' story and next time I will tell you how it played out.

In the meanwhile, if you wish to know more soon, have a look at my detective novel, Will the Real William Shakespeare Please Step Forward?

Hoping you enjoyed this and for remarks and comments, please write to me at:  dlwhy08@gmail.com