Shakespeare

“To be or not to be.” Did he or didn’t he? Shakespeare is one of the world’s most amazing and most famous writers of all time. Some people say that he’s just plain genius. Others think that there is no such thing as genius, and someone else must have written all his plays and sonnets. Some others think that he wrote some of his plays and sonnets, and another person wrote the others. Who is right? Who wrote all of the 36 plays and 154 sonnets? No one will ever surely know. But we still have our opinion about who really wrote the plays and sonnets. In my opinion, I think Shakespeare was a genius.

I honestly think that Shakespeare wrote every single one of his plays and sonnets. There is good, solid evidence that proves my point. First of all, his name can be seen on his works as the author. Obviously, this shows that he was the author of his plays and poems. Secondly, Shakespeare also was an actor in his plays with the acting company numerously identified as “Lord Chamberlains Men”, “Lord Hunsdon’s Men”, and “The Kings Men”. Also, according to the play “The Second Part of the Return from Parnassus” which students in Cambridge around 1601 put on, proves that Shakespeare was one of their fellow actors. The characters in this play, “Kempe” and “Burbage”, were apart of “Lord Chamberlains Men”, and in one point during the play, Shakespeare is contrasted with University Educated playwrights. This proves that in fact, Shakespeare was apart of the acting company “Lord Chamberlains Men”. Not to mention, no person of the Elizabethan Era ever doubted Shakespeare and his ascription to his work. How come Shakespeare is doubted now for his attribution to his work, when he wasn’t even doubted during the time in which he wrote the plays? Shakespeare definitely wrote his plays and sonnets, according to these facts, and no else could have.

Some people say that Shakespeare did not write his plays or sonnets at all, and that someone else wrote them. In my opinion, this is completely untrue. People think that Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, Christopher Marlowe, or other people must have written them, because Shakespeare simply isn’t well educated enough to write his plays. First of all, Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, and Christopher Marlowe had no connection to William Shakespeare in any way; acting or friends. Francis Bacon couldn’t have written the plays because he couldn’t have written 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems with his full, and busy lifestyle and his “literary and official preoccupations” (2). Plus, Shakespeare’s “usages of legal terminology, unlike Bacon’s, were very metaphorical” (2). Christopher Marlowe couldn’t have written Shakespeare’s plays either. Marlowe died in 1593, and Shakespeare kept writing plays after that. Some people say that Marlowe didn’t really die that year, and lived to write more of Shakespeare’s works. But honestly, how could anyone cover up their death like that, and live to write more plays? How likely is that? Not to mention, all of Marlowe’s plays were attributed to him, and published after his death. Why would he all the sudden want the better plays he wrote after his death to not be attributed to him, but to Shakespeare? Lastly, Edward de Vere couldn’t have written Shakespeare’s play either. He died in 1604. Shakespeare continued writing plays until 1613. Plus, Edward de Vere stopped his literary hobbies at an early age. But, let’s just say that one of these people did write Shakespeare’s plays, and sonnets. Someone in the acting company or someone in management must have known about this secret author. Just like any other human, this person would have eventually spread the secret, and people would know who the true author was. With all these facts in mind, there is doubt about de Vere, Marlowe, or Bacon being the true author of Shakespeare’s works.

Can’t it just be said that Shakespeare was a genius? Even though his education didn’t quite