The Shakespeare \ Bacon \ De Vere Debate
Who really wrote the canon? Was it really Shakespeare? Or was it someone else? Now, don't get me wrong, I think it was Shakespeare, but there are people who don't.
The most likely candidates are Sir Francis Bacon, Edward De Vere, and Shakespeare himself. A case can be made for any of them, but Shakespeare is the most widely accepted
choice. Very little is known about Shakespeare. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glovemaker, which makes
you think "Why would the son of a glovemaker become such a favorite of the queen?". Many think that an esteemed nobleman, like Edward De Vere, would be a more likely
candidate for the queen's favor. A glovemaker's son usually wouldn't have the breeding, education, and background necessary to write such great works. His plays show such depth, people think
"How can
one mind be so brilliant?". The plays also demonstrate much understanding of courtly and political life, which would not be familiar to a country bumkin, but second nature
for an aristocrat.
Throughout his life, his name was not spelled very consistently. Some of the records of his name (birth certificate, marriage papers, etc.) are Shagsbere, Shakespeare, Shaxpere, Shackespere, Shaxspeare, Shakesspeare, and Shakspeare. Not that much difference, except the fact that more than half of the known names have an x in them. Maybe it was Shaxpeare? Who knows? Maybe it was De Vere? Or Bacon?
Many portraits were painted of Shakespeare, but none were painted during his lifetime. Why wouldn't Shakespeare, as famous as he was, not want his portrait painted?
Except for the title pages of the nine quartos, there is nothing to prove that the playwright Shakespeare is in any way connected to the man from Stratford. On his birth certificate,
the name is Shaxper, but in the quartos, it is spelled either Shakespeare or Shake-speare. The death entry for "Shaxper" (As we will refer to the Stratford Shakespeare) mentions him as
a "Gent", meaning gentleman. There is no mention of him as a dramatist or actor.
Shakespeare's real identity remains a mystery to this day. We will probably never find out who he really was, but, hey, we can still try! If you would like to pursue the matter further, here are some sites to check out:
[Case For De Vere || Case For Bacon]