Essay on The Shakespearean Authorship Argument

Submitted By OneSixtyPlus
Words: 1000
Pages: 4

SCRIPT:

Slide 1: PAUL
<Introduce Presentation>

Slide 2: PAUL

Slide 3: MAGGIE
“Antistratfordians” is the preferred name of those who deny that Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the works that are attributed to him.They attempt to disqualify William Shakespeare as the author and usually offer supporting arguments for a substitute candidate. Most of these people are credentialed professors. Many others are merely independent scholars. This lends to the edge of the debate as the opposing side believes that these less educated people's points are invalid due to this. The Stratfordians who are the people who disagree with the Antistratfordian conspiracy theories. They simply believe that Shakespeare wrote the pieces of literature that he is said to have written. These differing of opinions amount in an ongoing debate: one side attacking stodgy traditionists and the other scoffing at basic errors in logic and fact.

Slide 4: EMILY
Shakespeare's literary vocabulary consisted of 20,000 words, which is two to three times more than the most educated and talented literary contemporaries. The knowledge displayed by the writing suggests that the author received classical education based on Greek and Latin tradition. Saying this, a man from a small town, such as Stratford, is unlikely to receive adequate education. The quote “Fall into the compass of a praemunire” from Henry III indicates that legal knowledge was present, and he also displayed a detailed knowledge of seafaring, as shown in The Tempest shipwreck scene. The education in Stratford was better than the Antistratfordians suggest. There was a grammar school, where you learned classical history, Latin literature, and how to read and write. “In the imagination of his detractors, William Shakespeare is at best a semiliterate actor... at worst he's a criminal” said Scott McCrea, the author of The Case For Shakespeare.

Slide 5: ENZO
A pseudonym is a name or tittle that a person or group conceals their true identity for a specific reason. His surname was spelled inconsistently in both literary and non-literary documents, especially noticed on the documents that were written by hand. This is taken as evidence that he was not the same person who wrote the works, and that the name was used as a pseudonym for the true author. Shakespeare's name was often hyphenated as "Shake-speare" or "Shak-spear" and it is said that most pseudonyms are hyphenated in plays, pseudonyms like "Tom Tell-truth" were also sometimes hyphenated. Reasons why the use of “Shakespeare” as a pseudonym differ for each candidate, usually depending on their social status. Aristocrats such as Derby and De vere used pseudonyms because of a prevailing “stigma of print.” (explain what stigma of print is) In the case of commoners, the reason was to avoid prosecution by the authorities just like Bacon to avoid the consequences of advocating a more republican form of government, and Marlowe to avoid imprisonment or worse after faking his death and fleeing the country.

SLIDE 6: ENZO
He was one of the leading candidates during the 19th Century. Sir Francis Bacon was one of the great intellectual figures of Jacobean England. He was a lawyer, philosopher, essayist and a scientist. Bacon's candidacy rely on his historical and literary conjectures and the similarity of philosophical ideas found in Bacon’s writings and the works of Shakespeare. Baconians have also argued that Shakespeare's works show a detailed scientific knowledge that, they claim, only Bacon could have possessed. Certain passages in “Coriolanus”, first published in 1623, refer to the Circulation of the blood, a theory known to Bacon through his friendship with William Harvey, but not made public until after Shakespeare's death in 1616. They also argue that Bacon has been praised for his poetic style, which Shakespeare was also known for. Strafordians argue that Bacon's and Shakespeare's styles of writing are different, and that they use