The Tragedy of William Shakespeare
Francisco Arellano
Published on 11/28/17 - Conspiracy
Everyone is familiar with Shakespeare. Shakespeare is credited to have written at least 38 plays and over 150 short and long poems. His works are said to be the most elegant in the English language and even 400 years after his death they are continued to be studied and performed worldwide, some even being adapted on the big screen with films such as Roman Polanski's Macbeth and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
Although Shakespeare is the most famous writer in history there is very little documentation of his existence other than his plays and poems. He is said to have been married to Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) and is speculated to have been born on April 23, 1564 and died on on the day of his birthday on April 23, 1616. This has had the world questioning the existence of this icon of literature. Mark Twain even wrote an entire book, Is Shakespeare Dead?, where he doubts the authenticity of Shakespeare's existence. Other doubters include Walt Whitman, Helen Keller, and Malcolm X.
Furthermore, it is speculated that Shakespeare was nothing more than an aspiring actor while others believe he was the alter ego of the actual writer. But which author could that have been?
Sir Francis Bacon.
While there are many more candidates and theories as to who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays, Sir Francis Bacon is the most interesting one. Sir Francis Bacon was mostly known for his contribution to science which included being one of the inventors of the scientific method. Francis is a famous philosopher and scholar who definitely has the credentials to be Shakespeare. It is also known that Francis had connections with secret societies such as the Freemasons. The societies were said to be part of closed door intellectual movements.
The Freemasons wanted the society to be dictated by intellect. Francis motivation for writing plays is said to be connected with his and the Freemasons passion in the advancement of learning. He wanted to write elegant and intellectual pieces of work to manipulate and influence society to comply with his beliefs.
So as people read and watched his plays and poems it would lead to a more intellectual society that he and the Freemasons would hope for. Francis made the decision to hide his identity due to backlash he would receive from the Freemasons. Playwriting was not something a scholar like himself would lower himself to doing and he feared being ridiculed for doing so. So he made the decision to create an alter ego, but it needed a face.
Some speculate that William Shakespeare never existed and that it was Sir Francis Bacon all along, but others suggest William Shakespeare was real and was used as a decoy so that Francis could live his own life.
It is hypothesized that the real William Shakespeare was a struggling actor whom Francis believed would be an excellent cover up. Even Shakespeare's official death records classify him as nothing more than an actor. Many believe that William had no actual education and had been illiterate. It can be seen in many documents that William can barely write his own signature. The writers of Shakespeare's plays also must have had extensive knowledge on information that someone like him would not have had in order to write his plays. It is also said that the legend of “Shakespeare” didn't exist until after his death.
While many of these theories are very interesting there are quite a few inconsistencies. For example, it was common knowledge that Shakespeare attended The Stratford Grammar school. His father held an official position there and likely would have made the decision to educate his child.
In that case, Shakespeare would have learned English, Latin, and Astrology extensively. There are also records that show that Shakespeare enjoyed critical acclaim and was praised by many at the time. His background also provided him with information and details that are included in his plays.
As for Sir Francis Bacon, he himself was a writer and none of his writings matched the style of Shakespeare's work. There is no possible way a man such as Francis could have written all of Shakespeare's plays as he would have been busy with his own endeavours.
Playwriting was profoundly unpopular with aristocrats so Francis had no real reason to write plays. His plan of controlling society using plays has no factual background to it and is nothing more than speculation.
The lack of documents of Shakespeare can be attributed to the time period he lived in as documents were not as protected as they are today. So the only other explanation is that the only true writer of Shakespeare's plays is Shakespeare himself. He had a style to him that was not matched by any other candidates. So unless someone comes up with some miraculous piece of evidence that dethrones Shakespeare, the world can remain certain that the answer to the question, “Who is William Shakespeare?” will always be just be William Shakespeare.
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