Who Wrote Shakespeare?
One of the oldest questions concerning Shakespeare is whether he wrote “his” works or not. The first mention that he might not have written the works attributed to him was made by the Reverend James Wilmot in 1785. Wilmot suspected that Francis Bacon was the real author; however, he was so afraid of offending people that he never published his theory and it (temporarily) died with him. His theory was recalled when a guest at a dinner party mentioned his theory to James Corton Cowell. Cowell then presented a paper on the subject to his local philosophical society. Although Bacon was the first to have been suggested to be the “real” Shakespeare, he is not the only one. The most popular “real Shakespeares” candidates include Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford; Christopher Marlowe; Bacon; and even Queen Elizabeth I. Each supposed author has a group of followers that support that particular person as the real author of Shakespeare. De Vere s are called Oxfordians, Bacon s Baconians, and Mar
” (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996). Part of the book’s review – written by a Bob Grumman – is reproduced here (more can be found at Shakespeare Authorship) and in the links and ‘works’ sections of this site. If you can see this, your browser doesn’t understand IFRAME. However, we’ll still link you to the file.
