The Many Shakespeares

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In addition, an Elizabethan dramatist always ran the risk of incurring the Queen’s wrath should any of his plays contain political satire that gave offense the Her Majesty. Only by preserving his anonymity could the true author be sure he would not suffer the consequences of Elizabeth’s outrage.

These concerns did influence some Elizabethan dramatists, leading to a subculture of ‘concealed poets’ among the nobility, but there is no firm evidence that the author of the Shakespearean works was among them. While speculation to this effect has been used to answer some intriguing questions about the authorship of the plays, it must remain only one of many possible explanations, the likelihood of which is uncertain. Arguably, it is easier to imagine the rustic Shaksper writing these outstanding plays than it is to imagine another author being so ashamed of such a feat that he wouldn’t admit to it. Further, a concern about political content seems inappropriate in connection with the Shakespearean works. Overall, the plays’ benign, pro-Tudor nature is so pervasive that one group of theorists has even argued that they must have been commissioned (or even written) by Elizabeth herself to serve as pro-government propaganda.

The case for Christopher Marlowe is based on a different premise. According to Calvin Hoffman, the originator of this theory, Marlowe was already under royal disfavour when he secretly wrote the plays. In order to escape execution, Hoffman says, Marlowe fled to the Continent. His patron, Sir Thomas Walsingham, staged a fake murder so it would appear that Marlowe was dead. The plot was supposedly successful and Marlowe continued to write plays from France, with the Stratford actor serving as a front by which his work could be introduced into England.

The theory is technically feasible, but there is no documentary evidence to support it and it is perhaps most enlightening simply as an example of how easy it is to concoct an explanation that fits the few available facts.

While Hoffman has won over few supporters, many theorists share his idea that Shaksper acted as an accomplice of the true author. This explains some of the apparent difficulties of the traditional interpretation, such as Shaksper’s alleged illiteracy, but it presents problems of its own. Even if the true author was justified in fearing damage to his reputation of royal disfavour, to employ Shaksper as an accomplice would have been an unnecessary and dangerous complication. The much simpler, more fool-proof and — assuming Shaksper was paid for his cooperation — cheaper expedient of allowing his plays to remain officially anonymous would have served the same purpose. Further, if Shaksper was really so obviously incapable of writing the plays as the revisionists suggest, he would have made a terrible partner, since such a transparent deception would have been impossible to maintain.

Other theorists, however, suggest that Shaksper did not play even this minor part in the production of the plays. They claim that none of the contemporary references to the Shakespeare of the London stage explicitly identify him as the man born in Stratford, and conclude that the two were not the same person at all. Shakespeare of London, Charlton Ogburn believes, was no more than a pseudonym for Edward de Vere, with no connection at all the Shaksper of Stratford other than the similarity of names.

This theory explain much of the apparent dissimilarity between the rustic Stratfordian and the sophistication of the artist, while avoiding many of the flaws inherent in some of the other theories. There is, however, physical evidence that challenges it. A contemporary document drawn up be the College of Heralds depicts a coat of arms that the Stratford man applied for and identifies it as belonging to ‘Shakespear the Player’. Once it is thus proven that Shaksper was the London actor, it is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the claim that he was illiterate, since an actor who memorizes his lines by having them dictated to him is rather unlikely. Literacy, in turn, implies a formal education, which is contrary to one of the principal suppositions of the theorists.

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