Literary Criticism

The Ignorance of Shakespeare

Name: The Ignorance of Shakespeare
Author: John Doherty
ISBN: 9781606937938

by John Doherty

Write a review

Synopsis

Did William Shakespeare write the plays usually attributed to him or was he an imposter? Many claims have been advanced supporting rival authors, based to a large extent on Shakespeare's presumed ignorance and inability, but no one has ever succeeded in proving beyond doubt that their candidate was the real writer. Nor, it must be said, has anybody proved conclusively the case for Shakespeare. His name, however, appears on the title pages of every edition of the plays published over the last three hundred years or so. This should be a strong point in his favour, but his opponents claim it can be explained away as part of the imposture. Those supporting alternative authors do best when they show that their protgs had the education and access to sources necessary to write the plays. Can the same be said for William Shakespeare? The Ignorance of Shakespeare does not attempt to answer all rival claims in detail-a project that would require several volumes. Rather it aims to show that it is far more likely than not that Shakespeare was well educated, and had access to the reference books and source books required to write the plays.