Was the man we know as Shakespeare really the author of the "Shakespearean
Works"? We know little about the man called Shakespeare, Did he really
write the plays, or is he just a man that got confused within history? (Sobran
44) There is not even a correct spelling of this mans name, Some of the
spellings include Shakspere, Shakespeare, And Shaxpere. Shakespeare, Is it the
man, Or is it another? (Hayes 1D) Shakespeare is both fact and fiction, he was
no concern until nearly two hundred years after he perished, and there is still
no definite or probably will there ever be a conclusion to this mystery. (Sobran
44) There is another man that can be attributed with the works of
"Shakespeare", His name is Edward DeVere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. (Bethell
47) The man known as Shakespeare does not fit perfectly into the necessary
criteria to determine the author of these works. Thomas Looney invented a series
of criteria that had to be filled, in order to be a possible candidate for the
authorship of the Shakespearean works. To have all the knowledge that is
portrayed in the works, the author must have accomplished many things. These
including a superior education, from what we know of "Shakespeare",
this was not a possibility.(Bethell 46) We do not even know if Shakespeare has
ever written anything in his life, Nor do we know that he was paid for writing
these works. The man Shakespeare does not even make a claim that he is the
author.(Bethell 50) He may not have been able to write the simplest thing of
all, His own name.(Hayes 1D) Its not how little we know about Shakespeare that
causes confusion and difficulty, Its the things that we do know about this man
that cause the confusion and difficulty. We know Shakespears father, a
glover,trader, and landowner, could not write. When he signed documents, he
simply made an "X", This is why it is beleived that Shakespeare could
not write also, Because he probably did not attend school therefore his
education was passed down from his father. (Bethell 48) Shakespeare’s farther
married Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowner of Wilmcote. John
Shakespeare was ambitious, We do know much more about the man Edward DeVere. We
know that because deVere was a nobleman, he could not have his name written upon
his writings because he would be considered of a lower class. The plays contain
a sense of hate towards some of the noblemen of that time period, which also
point the authorship towards DeVere. (Hayes 1D) When DeVere was a young man, he
spent a lot of time in Italy and Europe, This could explain the great detail
used in the Shakespearean plays of Venice, and other European locations.(Sobran
45) The sonnets have never been able to fit into Shakespears life, On the other
hand they fit into DeVere's life well. (Sobran 45) There are facts that lean
both ways in this age old mystery of authorship, Though the Strafordian man does
not fit into the story very well, He may have some advantages that the Oxfordian
man may not. DeVere on the other hand, has mostly every fact pointing towards
him as the valid author for the "Shakespearean" works, From his
education, to his experiences, to his travel. The Oxfordian seems to come out on
top. How do we know that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare?. We dont actually, We
can only assume that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. Yet there will always be the
people who feel that he didnt write his own work and say that he is just a myth
and not a man. The world can only be in wonder if Shakespeare wrote his own work
because there is no evidence that he really did. Even if there was there would
still be the people who say that he didnt.