The Wicked Ingénue

I absolutely adore Shakespeare. Always have. He was a genius in every sense of the word. Reading “The Tempest” back in elementary school was what inspired me to become a writer.

(Yes, I said elementary school. Hell, I read “The Divine Comedy” when I was practically in diapers)

I’m enrolled in three Shakespeare courses this quarter, and in one of them, we had a rather interesting discussion. I’m surprised it hasn’t come up until now, given the recent press generated by an organization whose sole purpose in life is to tear down the literary pedestal Will currently sits upon.

The organization causing a ruckus in the literary community is called the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition (SAC). Some of you might already be familiar with them.

If not, allow me to enlighten you.

There’s been doubt surrounding William Shakespeare’s identity and authorship for hundreds of years. I suppose it’s hard to believe one individual could be so wildly talented, skilled, and productive with (evidently) little to no educational background. There is no record of Shakespeare ever attending university or even grammar school. But then again, diligent recordkeeping wasn’t a huge concern during the Renaissance.

In addition, Shakespeare skeptics claim that if Shakespeare was indeed the author of the works attributed to him, there would be more evidence to support it. Surely there’d be some acknowledgement in his will regarding his substantial manuscript, poetry, personal essay, and book collection. Surely Shakespeare would’ve instructed his wife and/or colleagues to take care of his literary effects and see to their preservation and safekeeping. After all, it’s not like he was some unknown writer who wasn’t recognized until after his death; he (supposedly) emmassed a great deal of wealth and acclaim because of his talents while he was still living.

Shakespeare must’ve hired a shitty law clerk, because there’s no mention of any of these items in his will. In fact, the only significant item documented is his “second best bed with the furniture”, which he left to his wife.

Who do you think he left his best bed to? The young boy he addresses in many of his sonnets, perhaps?

On the other hand, how could Will’ve realized he’d eventually become the most recognized and celebrated writer of all time? Yeah, he was successful in his day, but so were Dante Alighieri, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson, and they haven’t garnered half the attention Shakespeare has (unless you’re constantly surrounded by literary dorks like I am).

Again, recordkeeping was still a developing art during Shakespeare’s time, and perhaps he and/or his legal advisors didn’t feel the need to provide detailed documentation.

But still – would a mother fucking bed (second best, no less) take precedence over a writer’s work? If I had to choose between a million dollars and my writing collection, I’d happily live in a cardboard box and keep my work. Hell, I almost took a bath with my toaster the other day when I thought I lost the flash drive containing the bulk of my memoir.

As for the question of who “William Shakespeare” really was, SAC suggests the name may have been a front/pseudonym for another writer or group of writers who wanted to remain anonymous. Top contenders include Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, and Christopher Marlowe (I highly doubt the Marlowe theory, personally. I just don’t think he had it in him). Some believe these writers were more likely to have possessed the skill, expertise, worldliness, and educational background Shakespeare’s works would’ve required.

(Wouldn’t it be a riot if “Shakespeare” turned out to be female? That could account for the desire to remain anonymous…)

However, for all we know Shakespeare could’ve possessed these attributes; they just weren’t well-documented (recall the shitty law clerk theory).

There are other discrepancies regarding Shakespeare’s upbringing, career, and will that have perpetuated the authorship controversy, but I’m not going to list them all here. If you want to read about them in further detail, follow the link at the end of this blog.

I don’t know how I ended up on SAC’s mailing list, but I received a message a couple months back encouraging me to sign a petition “dedicated to legitimizing the Shakespeare authorship issue by increasing awareness of reasonable doubt about the identity of William Shakespeare”. Because I’m such a fucking nerd, I decided to thoroughly educate myself on this topic just for fun.

After pouring over their website and considering the list of “notable skeptics” (including Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Charles Dickens, Sigmund Freud, and Ralph Waldo Emerson, to name a few), I pondered this hypothetical outcome:

Suppose it was revealed (without a shadow of a doubt) that the author known as William Shakespeare did not write the works attributed to him. Suppose they were written by one or more of his aforementioned contemporaries. Suppose we learned that Shakespeare was nothing more than an unassuming King’s Theatre actor randomly chosen to be the front man for the biggest literary con of all time.

Would these facts change the incomparable impact the author known as Shakespeare’s work has had and will continue to have on the world? Would the inspiration and joy we’ve experienced from reading his work be tainted simply because the writer was born under a different name(s)? Would I have reconsidered my decision to become a writer back in fourth grade if there’d been a different author listed on the dog-eared spine of “The Tempest”?

I highly doubt it.

In fact, I think “Shakespeare” could be the greatest character ever created, whether it was by his own design or someone else’s. After all, he does seem like the kind of guy who’d be highly amused by all this hype.

Whatever the case may be, the fact remains that somewhere out there, someone’s laughing all the way to the literary canon. I don’t know about you, but I look forward to the day when I can finally rub feathers with him, her, or them.

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If you’re interested in reading further, check out the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition’s official website: http://doubtaboutwill.org/.