A Writer In Disquise

Shakespeare does not exist!

Amanda

Mrs. Hart

Research Paper

7 May 2010

A Writer in Disguise

   Why would a famous writer like Shakespeare want to hide their identity? There are many other candidates that fit Shakespeare. The grave of William Shakespeare proves that he could not have written these magnificent pieces of writing. There is no hard evidence proving that he ever existed. Nobody knows Shakespeare’s date of birth, because it is unknown. He lacked in his education, for he only went to grammar school for four years. Shakespeare’s family never even referred to him as a play writer. Among all things, William Shakespeare did not exist, because there are other possible candidates, no real hard evidence that Shakespeare existed, and the back ground does not fit. 
    First off, there are other candidates that could possibly be Shakespeare. One possible candidate would be Queen Elizabeth, for she was a very noble woman of her time and back then woman were not able to write poetry. One quote states, “In the case of Queen Elizabeth, the argument is that it is improper for a woman to write poetry, and therefore she served as a patron for Shakespeare in order to ghost-write his works”(Wheeler). Women were also more concerned about others opinions, such as appearances and outlooks. This article states, “It arises because communication is much more important for the survival of a woman than it is for a man”(Sloan). It is possible Queen Elizabeth hid her identity so she would not have to face her fears of other peoples criticism. Another possible candidate would be De Vere, because he was dated to be around at the time of Shakespeare’s works. Sloan clearly states, “The speaker in the sonnets was a middle-aged man obsessed with his own mortality, yet Shakespeare was in his thirties when he “supposedly” wrote them”(Sloan). If De Vere was really around at this time then he could very well be the writer of these magnificent pieces. De Vere would also have been about the right age to have authored one of the Sonnets. Another article states, “Oxfordians date the Sonnets between 1593 and 1603; since de Vere died in 1604; he would have been about the right age”(Sloan). De Vere could very well be Shakespeare, because there is evidence that he was around during the time of the Sonnets. One does not truly know for sure who exactly wrote Shakespeare’s work, but between Queen Elizabeth and De Vere its obvious one of them did.
    Second of all, there is no real hard evidence proving that Shakespeare ever existed. On his birth certificate there are six signatures and his name was not spelled Shakespeare. Hill clearly states, “On Shakespeare’s birth certificate his name is spelled “Shaksper,” and six signatures undisputed to be authentic are all spelled differently”(Hill). If this is true then Shakespeare is just another writer in disguise, for his name is spelled differently. Also, the signatures on his birth certificate are written terribly, which makes those of his family more illiterate than those of other noble writers. Another quote states, “Moreover, those six signatures are written in a horrible, virtually illegible scribble-one appearing much closer to that of an illiterate than to that of the most renowned writer ever”(Hill). Shakespeare was just as illiterate as his family, so he could not have been able to write such advanced plays. There were also other written accounts proving that he did not exist, for no one every remembered seeing him. Sloan states, ”Not one document exists giving evidence of anyone ever seeing him”(Sloan). If not one document exist then nor does he, for there are no documents to prove he did. Plus there are no originals that have survived, which makes it easier to say that he did not exist. This quote says, “Originals of none of his manuscripts have survived”(Sloan). If there is no record of information stating Shakespeare wrote these plays then it must have been another writer hiding their identity. It is hard to believe that he ever existed, because there is no hard evidence in proving he did, and none of his pieces survived, which is odd for he was supposedly quite famous.
     Finally, Shakespeare’s background does not fit. It is funny that one believes Shakespeare was this famous writer, because his family never referred to him as one. One quote says, “Not even his own family ever referred to him as a famous playwright”(Sloan). Shakespeare’s family referred to him as more of a gentleman, because that is what he truly wanted to be. Also, how can a man such as Shakespeare be able to write such magnificent pieces of writing when he only went to grammar school for four years? Another quote clearly states, “His plays have a depth and magnitude so great that only a university-educated man of high status could have”(Sloan). It is not possible that Shakespeare wrote all these pieces of writing, for it would have been too advanced for him. A man who has lacked in education would not have the knowledge to write such advanced pieces of work. There is not enough background information to prove that Shakespeare was the real author of these extraordinary pieces of literature.
    To sum it all up, Shakespeare did not exist, because there are other possible candidates, no real hard evidence, and the background information does not fit. There are so many candidates that could be the real Shakespeare, but De Vere and Queen Elizabeth are the most likely to be the real Shakespeare. Also, there is very little hard evidence in proving that he even existed, for his date of birth is unknown and the signatures on his birth certificate are illiterate. There is not enough background information on his life to prove that he ever even existed or not. Shakespeare’s family was very illiterate and never referred to him as a play writer, but a gentleman. Shakespeare lacked in his education, for he only went to grammar school for four years. It is hard to believe that Shakespeare could very well be just another writer in disguise. One will never truly know if he ever existed or not for Shakespeare was the only one who truly knew.

Author's Note

This is my research paper on Shakespeare. Tell me what you think, please! I have a works cited page, just didnt put it on here.

Reviews

[zappy]

go manda this is really u should get a A on this there is a few things that u should have said but u did good i like it good work

[*Kantola*]

Wonderful! I'm guessing you have a works cited page for this? :)
I wish we could have done a research paper for our english class. I did a 7-page paper on a history topic (Jazz and fashion of the 20's) and didn't like it very well. I love english, history is MEHHHH lol
This was wonderful! I couldnt find a problem with it. Wonderful supportive evidence, it flowed nicely, and you stayed on topic. Great job, you should get an A :D