Shakespeare: Fact or Fiction?

[kenikki]

How can we possibly know that Shakespeare not only did not write ALL his plays and sonnets but did he actually exist at all?
Some critics agree with this point.
I personally feel that he did exist but there must be a lot of creditors somewhere.

Discuss.

[Geoffrey]

i think it's clear that a man by the name of Shakespeare did in-fact exist, yet I find any argument for him being the sole author of all of his books, or for him having no hand('s?) in any of them at all to be a bit absurd.

In regards to him perhaps using other author's works, or perhaps writing with other offers, I feel the best argument for this is seen in the language and style of the play 'Pericles.'
Unlike the other plays of the Jacobean period, Pericles is extremely sing-song oriented, with a predominant rhyming style throughout atleast the first half (if my memories correct)

So... perhaps he just collaborated with different persons along the way, and got all the credit... who could ever know...

[ashley3554]

Shakespeare did exist and he did write but not by his own hands he sometimes hires people to write because he was a bad speller

I guess the problem was 100 years later after his time ,what he wrote was fixed and altered by others due to the fact that words have changed and new words have been added or omitted from the language so these plays and sonnets that we have and read are not the real thing .. they are not the original versions made by Shakespeare .

Also there are different textual versions of Shakespeare plays because they were not printed so naturally there would be different versions and also because Shakespeare and his (bad spelling) wrote the same word with different spelling sometimes and he as all poets revised his plays making many different versions of the same play and that was very popular at that time..

One play or poem with several versions..

Poets change there minds very often I guess

[JBI]

He clearly existed, though chances are some of his friends helped him write his plays and perhaps his poems too. We see from repetitive style that there is at least one author throwing out work in a distinct, and unique style, though it could be a group of people writing together. I would think that people, specifically fellow actors, would help him write his work, though I doubt that he "didn't exist".

[shadowy girl]

Well, some peopel believe we did not reach the moon yet!
People say anything just to draw attention, I believe he exists.

[toni]

Shakespeare did exist, but the plot of Pericles is highly questionable.

As for the moon-:alien: I don't believe we landed at all.:lol:

[shadowy girl]

hhhhhhh
very funny toni.
THIS great author and poet left behind him things that prove his existence.. the moon... well, we got stones from there!

[JCamilo]

The non-existence of Shakespeare was more an academic joke without any basis that became very popular and several authors in the XIX century accepted it... it help the myth of this man.
And there is something else... that man that wrote the universe one day just stopped. For four years he wrote nothing but his will. Most authors, who are often full of the romantic notion that writing is a dire need could not understand it. Finding shakespeares behind him helped to ease the feeling that was impossible.

[truth_forest]

Whatever he exists or not...
His works are so great and reflect in every period.
I really like him even he's fiction...

[Redzeppelin]

I used to be an ardent Stratfordian (supporter of the idea that Shakespeare wrote the plays ascribed to him); however, I've recently read an excellent book that has all but convinced me that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford is more than likely the real Shakespeare. The case put forth is very convincing, to say the least.

[toni]

hhhhhhh
very funny toni.
THIS great author and poet left behind him things that prove his existence.. the moon... well, we got stones from there!


Rock samples could be easily obtained from an unmanned mission to the moon; astronauts standing the moon's intense radiation- well, that's another story. And besides, we're off topic :eek2:

[JBI]

Man is the measure of all things (Protagoras)

If most of us agree that Shakespeare existed than he according to us, existed. It is only until most of us stop believing he existed that he becomes fantasy.

[JCamilo]

Well, even if we all agree that he exist, he may still be a fantasy.

[shadowy girl]

Yes, eveything could be, but he exists 90%.. I guess.

[shadowy girl]

Besides, why do you even think he isn't real? what makes us people so not sure of everthing?! He exists or not..well someone surely wrote his sonnets, comedies, tragedies, and histories, So whether he was shakespear or not, he was a human being, a great one!

[dandan]

you ppl make me puke.

[Redzeppelin]

you ppl make me puke.

Why's that?

[Logos]

A recent news item regarding Shakespearean authorship :)

Coalition forms to discredit Shakespeare's authorship:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2007/09/09/shakespeare-authorship.html

And the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition's 'doubt about will' site:
http://www.doubtaboutwill.org/