Did Shakespeare write the 37 plays and 154 sonnets credited to him?
The evidence above proves William existed but not that he was a playwright nor an actor nor a poet. In fact recently some academics who call themselves the Oxfords argue that Stratford’s celebrated playwright did not write any of the plays attributed to him. They suggest that he was merely a businessman and propose several contenders for authorship, namely an Edward de Vere. Evidence that the great Bard wrote his plays. The earliest proof that William did indeed write 37 plays was Robert Greene s criticism of the Bard in his Groatsworth of Wit, Bought with a Million of Repentance which attacked Shakespeare for having the nerve to compete with him and other playwrights in 1592 . Robert Greene made this quite clear by calling him “an upstart crow”. This criticism was placed with the Stationers Registrar on the 20th of September, 1592. Proof that William was an actor comes from his own performances before Queen Elizabeth herself in 1594 and evidence of William’s interest in theatre comes
