Now we know that neither Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford nor Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare, so who did?
How about a young but nationally recognised playwright who was a tearaway and iconoclast of the 1580-1590s and whose plays are still read and performed today, that is... (sound of drum roll)... CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE?
Let us start with a story:
Once upon a time, actually in 1953, a young man was walking down the road in Cambridge when he stubbed his foot on some builders' rubble that was lying on the pavement. Bending down to rub his injured foot, he noticed the frame of a picture sticking out from the lumps of concrete and wood. Seeing that he was standing outside the Master's Lodge of Corpus Christi College, he naturally pulled out the picture frame, looked at the portrait that it enclosed and had it sent away to be cleaned up and identified. No doubt he was delighted to hear that the picture (probably) was of none other than the top playwright of the 1580-90 world of drama, Christopher (Kit) Marlowe.
This conclusion was reached by the experts especially after they had studied the motto in the corner, "Quod me nutrit me destruit" - What feeds me destroys me. Today the portrait hangs proudly in the chancellor's off ice in Corpus Christi College and most books about Marlowe and the Elizabethan theatre say that this is the alleged portrait of this playwright.
So how could it be that Marlowe wrote Shakespeare? First of all, they were both born in 1564: Marlowe, on February 26 and Shakespeare two months later in April. Both were sons of artisans: Marlowe's father was a shoemaker and Shakespeare's was a glove-maker. Both CM and WS were literate and received a good classic education (proved in Marlowe's case but assumed in Shakespeare's) and there is evidence that they both were involved in the London theatre at the end of the Elizabethan era. This being the case, many lit.crit experts and others, including Calvin Hoffman, A.D. Wraight and Wilbur Ziegler claim that Marlowe is Shakespeare.
The only known existing signature by Marlowe, found on a document
when he was a witness to a property deal.
But how can that be so, I hear you say? Marlowe was killed in 1593 in a brawl whereas the Bard continued writing for another twenty years until (about) 1613. The answer to this puzzle will be revealed next time.
Until then, I'll be pleased to receive your comments at: wsdavidyoung@gmail. Thank you.
As I said in my last blog, one of the main objections to Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford being the real writer of Shakespeare's work is that he died in 1604 and was buried in Hackney, then a small village east of London. According to the lit. crit. experts, Shakespeare continued writing until about 1613; his last two plays being The Tempest and Henry VIII.
No problem say the Oxfordians, led by J.Thomas Looney (remember, according to him, pronounced 'Loney'). While it is true that our hero died twelve years before the Bard, before he died, he must have left several plays unfinished. These were later completed by his followers. This sounds possible but not all of the Oxfordians are happy with this idea. They say that the plays were written by Oxford, but before the dates that the aforementioned lit. crit. experts put forward.
Another Oxfordian detail which proves that the Earl of Oxford wrote the Bard's plays comes from this family crest:
Oxford had the subsidiary title of Viscount Bolobec, and the above crest, with its broken spear implies Shake-shaft and then on to Shakespeare. The Oxfordians back up this theory by quoting a speech made in London in 1587 by the Elizabethan scholar and poet, Gabriel Harvey. (see Jon Michell, Who Wrote Shakespeare, p.172 for the actual speech)
Finally, a little piece of smelly trivia in connection with the Earl of Oxford. According to the 17th cent. diarist and gossip, John Aubrey (1626-1697), he wrote the following in his book, Brief Lives..
This Earl of Oxford, making of his low obeisance to Queen Elizabeth, happened to fart, at which he was so abashed that he went to travel for seven years. On his return the queen welcomed him home and said, "My lord, I had forgotten the fart."
And on this gaseous note, I will finish with the Earl of Oxford and next time deal with another famous Elizabethan best-selling playwright who wrote Shakespeare: Christopher Marlowe.
Read, enjoy and comment on: dlwhy08@gmail.com. Thank you.
To continue with the bio of the Earl of Oxford: In 1586, after his return from Italy (where he allegedly obtained ideas for his "Italian" flavoured Shakespearean plays, such as "Romeo & Juliet," "Much Ado" etc.) he took part in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. Then two years later, he paid for one of Queen Elizabeth I's ships that fought against the Spanish Armada and was honoured by the queen as a result.
In 1591 he married Elizabeth Trentham and became a patron of literature and the theatre. In 1603 he officiated at the coronation of King James I, a known lover of the theatre, and then one year later, our literary earl died of the plague in Hackney, east London where he was buried. Note: he died twelve years before Shakespeare did, and according to the experts, such great plays as "Macbeth," "King Lear", "The Tempest" and "Coriolanus" were still waiting to be written.
Now we take a fast-forward from 1604 to 1920. In this last-mentioned year, an English school teacher from Gateshead in NE England, called J. Thomas Looney (pronounced as he insisted, Loney for obvious reasons) wrote a 476-page book called"Shakespeare" Identified in Edward de Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford." In it, our author claims that WS's plays were written by the earl and backs up his theory by stating that the writer of these plays had to have had the following qualifications:
maturity
eccentric and mysterious
intense sensibility and unconventional
had pronounced and literary tastes
an enthusiast of world drama
a lyric poet with a classical education
had feudal connections and loved Italy
an upper aristocrat and lover of falconry
careless with money
doubtful and somewhat conflicting attitudes re. women
a probable and sceptical (?) Catholic
The person who fulfilled all of the above was none other than Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, according to J.T. Looney. And not only that, but one of this lit. crit's greatest fans was Sigmund Freud. He read Looney's book three years after he published it and became convinced that our northern English school teacher was right. Freud loved King Lear and noted that both the earl and Oxford both had three daughters.
My copy of Looney's book (1948 edition).
Looney also found support from other men-of-letters such as Prof. Abel Lefranc Canon Rendall, Percy Allen and Colonel B.R. Ward and his son. Dorothy and Charlton Ogburn wrote a very comprehensive 1297-page tome called This star of England supporting the Oxfordian theory in 1952 and in 1984, their son, Ogden Jnr published an even more comprehensive volume, The Mysterious William Shakespeare.
But so far, none of the above has answered one basic question: How could it be that the Earl of Oxford, a known writer and traveller had written WS when it is a proved fact that he died in 1604 and yet the Bard's new plays continued to appear until about 1613, nine years later?
I will try and answer this intriguing question next time in my last chapter on "Oxford is Shakespeare."
Read, enjoy and comment at dlwhy08@gmail.com
OK, then if you don't think that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare, then like many others, you may agree that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was the real writer of the Bard's works. After all, this aristocrat (1550-1604) lived at the right time (more or less), was a well-travelled and well-educated gentleman and was known to have written literary pieces for the Elizabethan court.
He was born in Essex and educated at Cambridge and by the time he was 27 he'd been admitted to Gray's Inn to study law. He was also such a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I that when he asked for permission to serve in the army in Flanders, she refused. However he did see action in 1570 when, under the Earl of Sussex he fought in a campaign against the Scottish Catholic nobles.
When he sneaked abroad to Flanders in 1574 without the queen's permission, he was brought home ignominiously by her agents. In the following year he was given leave of absence from the court and travelled to France and Italy where he visited Venice, Padua, Florence and Sicily. He was so impressed by what he saw in Italy that he readily adapted many Italian ways and fashions. Is it a surprise then to read that Italy features in about one third of Shakespeare's plays?
Next time I will continue with his biography and show how the Oxfordians - those who claim that the Earl of Oxford wrote the Bard's plays - were also supported by several important people. One of these was Sigmund Freud.
Last time I promised to show how the Chicago Tribune, 1916 proved that Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare. Unfortunately, the print was too small and indecipherable for me to read, so I will have to abandon this idea. Please accept my apologies.
In the meanwhile we will see how Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence in Bacon is Shakespeare (1910) proved his theory by referring to the book Cryptomenytices et Cryptographie by Gustavi Seleni, (Augustus the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, 1579-1666).
From "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" by John Michell
If you study the bottom panel, you will see the standing figure of WS raising the seated Bacon's hat and claiming the glory for having written the latter's plays.
In the left-hand panel, you can see the old and shaking WS look-alike receiving a book (of WS works?) from Bacon, while on the right hand panel, you can see a horseman galloping away trumpeting the glory of Shake-spur's works.
Finally, in the top panel, the many lighted beacons represent the enlightened Bacon. According to Durning-Lawrence, the word 'bacon' was pronounced'beacon' in the 16th century.
So did Bacon write Shakespeare? I'll leave you to decide. If you are still not sure, write to me at: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com or wait until next time when I'll show you that the real writer of WS plays was Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.
The only known existing signature by Marlowe, found on a document 
