I attended many Shakespeare play productions in Stratford CT as a child, but could hardly understand a word of what was being said, and could hardly glean anything of what was actually going on in those very great & talented productions in Stratford. It's fun to know more about Shakespeare and read an expert analysis.
Shakespeare was really Lord Edward de Vere, who traveled extensively in Europe, not Will Shakespeare who never left Stratford upon Avon, but it's too much of a money-making enterprise now. I went to Stratford in the 70s with my English class, to get the narrative fixed in my young brain...
A friend was giving a speech when his crew turned out the lights stopped her speech and turned up lights with Bill moving her aside to announce POTUS run. He later apologized and ask her out on a date. She declined (wisely) telling him no as he was married. He kept after her for a few month's.
John, I loved reading this! What great insights, as always. My dad's first role was actually as the Bloody Sergeant in a production of Macbeth that Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne helped create in New York. The response to his letter requesting an audition was "Dear John Ireland: Miss Fontanne has asked me to tell you never, never, never to call "Macbeth" "McBeth", which you apparently did in your last letter"! Coincidentally, one of his last stage roles was playing Duncan/Macbeth alternating with Charlton Heston in the roles, while Vanessa Redgrave was a riveting Lady Macbeth. (I'm sure you can imagine the political flyers that were slipped nightly under the dressing room doors between those two costars was never-ending!) :))
Happy travels, John. Your writing is exquisite as always. Thankfully, this old codger easily recognized your use of AI pictures within although sometimes this is a struggle for me. Typically, I get annoyed by AI-generated pictures, but in your case, I found it clever.
Lady Macbeth must have been a tough old boot rather than a pretty little flower because she survived. She clearly had had a child and presumably it died. She wanted more from life. I always though Macbeth was a bit thick - simply "the muscle" - which was why he was so easy to influence and then so easy to feel sorry for his actions. You're right though - the Macbeths are harder to explain than the other Shakespearean tragedies and possibly harder to sympathise with.
One of the best way of a Scottish experience..a thrilling camper/caravan adventure in Scotland by touring the breathtaking North Coast 500 (NC500) or exploring the rugged Highlands and Cairngorms. Scotland offers dramatic mountain trails, pristine lochside views, and world-class nature reserves right on your doorstep... Whilst it is still there...
Inspiring . I will put MacBeth on my list of read again. Reinforces what I already know, examine your thoughts. Do not buy into them. They are often not telling you the truth. Of course nothing of real value can be gained through treachery.
Thankfully John has not related (at least directly) how Macbeth is somehow related to today’s political happenings and their motivations. Human nature, more aptly labeled good or evil, exists and will exist, taking many forms and the author of many outcomes.
Irene Coslet of the London School of Economics published in Jan 2026 'The Real Shakespeare: Emilia Bassano Willoughby.’ Bassano was exiled from the court of Tudor Queen Elizabeth I in 1592 into an arranged marriage with Alphonso Lanier, a profligate Court musician who used up all her family wealth carousing with illiterate scoundrels, including the actor William Shakespeare, while she raised Henry and Odillya. Only her son, Henry, survived to adulthood; her daughter, Odillya, tragically passed away in infancy. Her life experiences appear repeatedly throughout the plays and form the basis of her believable characters and their psychologically accurate portrayals.
Irene Coslet summarizes her book:
"A new piece of research evidence that I outline in my upcoming book shows that Shakespeare was not a man, but a woman: a black woman, Anglo-Venetian, of Moroccan descent, and covertly Jewish, named Emilia Bassano (London, 1569-1645). She was the daughter of a Venetian Court musician. Following the passing of her father when she was seven, Bassano was fostered into a noble household in England, where she received a high level of education. She spent her youth at the English Court as a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I before she was banished and forced into an unwanted marriage in 1592. ...
"She has been associated with Shakespeare since the 1970s, when the historian Alfred Leslie Rowse of Oxford found evidence that Bassano was the mistress of the patron of Shakespeare’s acting company. ...
"John Hudson first proposed the theory that Bassano was Shakespeare in 2013. In the Early Modern period, women were prohibited from writing drama ad acting. In general, they were restricted from writing literature for publication and engaging in public activities: Hudson posited that Emilia Bassano adopted a pen name to be able to write. ...
"My research concludes that the pioneer of the Western world and English language was a Subaltern (a black, Jewish woman), challenging the Eurocentric and patriarchal paradigm. The key question I seeks to address is whether society is prepared to give leadership and authority (Author-function) to an individual who would be generally regarded as a Subaltern. Attributing the Western heritage only to white men is not only unrealistic, but it also perpetrates inequality and injustice in society."
To be taken seriously you would need to first write a book refuting all the immense evidence for Francis Bacon at sirbacon.org, and then also the large amount of evidence put forward for the Earl of Oxford.
Already addressed by academics, actors, playwrights and popular authors, e.g.:
In 1909 Mark Twain dedicated a monograph to the authorship question, entitled "Is Shakespeare Dead?" Where he compared the Stratfordian theory to the skeleton of a brontosaur: in order to keep the Stratford, myth from falling apart, literary scholars have injected so many ad hoc theories into the model that it now looks like a brontosaur held together with plaster.
In 1964 in *My Autobiography,* Charlie Chaplin wrote that he did not believe that Shakespeare is the boy from Stratford. Rather, he saw the author as an aristocrat and princely.
In 2013 and 2015, John Hudson counted more than eighty schools and sub-schools unable to provide a convincing alternative or approach the Shakespeare authorship question.
Both Christopher Marlowe and the Earl of Oxford -- so far the two most popular candidates for creating the canon -- we're both dead while the plays and sonnets were penned. As for the plot of the 2011 movie, *Anonymous, why would Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford, conceal his identity when he was known as a playwright, the plays were produced with Court approval by Lord Chamberlain's Men, and highly popular throughout Elizabethan England?
Francis Bacon, best known for establishing the scientific method, was a prolific author of Essays and a propounder of classic philosophy. He focused on producing philosophical and literary works during his 1621 retirement until his death on April 9, 1626. He never wrote a play with his name on it.
Sorry Laura, but it looks to me like you have a very superficial familiarity with the authorship subject. I haven't really been involved in it for about 10 years now but I was very active in the debates online. One large forum where I began posting became probably the most viewed of all subjects. To the extent that they seemed to have totally deleted the whole forum just because of it. Then another forum, Playshakespeare.com, much larger, had a debate going that I joined and took on all comers while also reviewing some of the top Stratfordian books, like from James Shapiro. The Stratfordians were quite confident at first but over time they were clearly losing the argument, so much so that they took away that Forum also. They seemed to understand that they were clearly losing and so they advised the mainstream Shakespeare scholars to not debate the topic any more. One of my posts, from June 2013, had a paragraphy that started with this: "We now find that both sides of the dispute are in agreement that ‘the authorship question’ is important. Professor Shapiro lamented the lack of scholarly interest in the topic; the stylometric analysts Elliott and Valenza agreed, the leaders of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust now say it’s important, and now also many other scholars supporting them say it’s important. So, from any Shakespeare enthusiast, we shouldn’t hear “it’s [the authorship question] not important” or “it doesn’t matter who wrote them”. Now, more Shakespeare enthusiasts, are likely to become at least somewhat knowledgeable about the basic arguments on both sides of the question. Just gathering one-sided arguments to use as ‘ammunition’ is not going to show any intellectual maturity. The main problem is that perhaps no one can review close to what all has been written about so many alternative candidates." But at this point I'll just leave with this. Go to this website and read the evidence and who all has signed the Declaraton: https://www.doubtaboutwill.org/ And then here are top points for Francis Bacon. See how many you can refute: 1. The only Shakespeare notebook, a collection of expressions, phrases, and sentences, many of which appear in the Shakespeare plays. This is the Promus, written by Francis Bacon. This notebook has not been mentioned by a single Shakespeare biographer. (There is a very good psychological reason why orthodox scholarship is so concerned to repudiate any suggestion of Lord Bacon’s connection with Shake-speare. This is to protect the Bard (whom all admire, whoever he was) from the stigma of Lord Bacon’s supposed corruption, which they in their ignorance take for granted.-Martin Pares)
2. The only contemporary document bearing the names of Shakespeare and Bacon and the titles of two Shakespeare plays (Richard II and Richard III) and Shakespeare phrases. The Northumberland Manuscript which resides where it was discovered in Alnwick Castle, can be found an interesting juxtaposition of Bacon’s Christian name and William Shakespeare. The page consists of a contents list of speeches and other manuscripts. Underneath “by ffrancis William Shakespeare” we read “Richard II and Richard III.” Over the word ‘ffrancis’ is written another word which it is impossible to read until the whole page is turned upside down. Then it is seen that the word is ‘ffrancis ‘ and next to it , also upside down, are the words, ‘your sovereign.’ The long word in Love’s Labour’s Lost also appears in the Northumberland Manuscript. The probable date of the Manuscript is 1597.
3. Bacon -Shakespeare Coincidences
4. The Manes Verulamiani, a collection of obituary poems written in honor of Bacon by his friends, in Latin, some of which quote the expressions used on the Shakespeare monument in the Stratford church. Several of these tributes praise Bacon for his comedies, tragedies and poetry.
5. Bacon’s royal parentage, may be considered one of several reasons for his anonymity as author.
6. Bacon’s knowledge of Hermetic, Rosicrucian, Neoplatonic and Kabbalistic teaching. Rosicrucian themes are found in:
Bacon’s New Atlantis
As You Like It
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Venus and Adonis
The Shakespeare Sonnets
7. That Bacon was known as a poet by his contemporaries is validated by their tributes.(Yet this prodigious writer left hardly any poetry printed under his own name.) Perhaps the most important proof of the esteem in which he was held is exhibited in the “Great Assizes Holden in Parnassus” published in 1645.
a) Bacon as a concealed Poet : Contemporary Evidence
b) Bacon as a concealed Poet : Posthumous Eulogies
c) Bacon as a concealed Poet : His own Admission
8. The nonsense word in Love’s Labour’s Lost, honorificabilitudinitatibus.
9. Letter from Bacon to King James,Nov.1622:
“…for my pen, if contemplative, going on with The Historie of Henry the Eighth.”
Letter from Bacon to the Duke of Buckingham, 21 February 1623:
…Prince Charles “who, I hope, ere long will make me leave King Henry VIII and set me on work in relation to His Majesty’s adventures.”
Letter from Bacon to the Duke of Buckingham, 26 June 1623:
“…since you say the Prince hath not forgot his commandment touching my history of Henry VIII.”
January 1623. Bacon applied to the records office for the loan of archive documents relating to the reign of Henry VIII.
December 1623 ‘ The Historie of King Henry VIII’ printed for the first time in the Shakespeare First Folio.
A brief, 30-line summary of Henry’s reign was printed after Bacon’s death under his own name.
10. The St.Albans Mural, in the White Hart Inn, dated 1600 illustrating scenes from Venus and Adonis. At least six details have been found which link this large painting with Bacon, his nearby house at Gorhambury, the Rosicrucians, led by Bacon, and the Shakespeare plays. One of the six rules imposed on members of the Rosicrucian order, was anonymity for a hundred years. If this mural had been discovered in Stratford, or Bankside, it would have been mentioned in all books on the life of Shakespeare since its discovery in 1985. It has not been mentioned once.
11. How the Shakespeare Plays Fit Bacon’s Life-Story
12. See Bacon’s influence behind ‘The Comedy of Errors’, ‘Julius Caesar’ & ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’
13. Thirty-Two reasons for believing that Bacon wrote Shakespeare
14. Francis Bacon and Timon of Athens
15. A Perspective on Bacon & Hamlet
16. Another viewpoint on Bacon and Hamlet
17. The Ghost or Spirit in Hamlet and Bacon’s scientific observations on the nature of Spirit
18. Contemporary Evidence of Bacon linked to the Stage & Bacon’s integration of Stagecraft with his other Writings
19. Frequent references made by Bacon regarding the Theatre and Stage
20. Mutual Themes (Manners, Mind and Morals) are found in the works of Bacon & the Shakespeare Plays
21. Mutual thoughts and subjects can be found in the works of Bacon and Shakespeare collated by W.F.C .Wigston in his book Francis Bacon : Poet, Prophet, Philosopher,Versus Phantom Captain Shakespeare The Rosicrucian Mask
22. Transcript from a lecture given on April 28, 1910 in St. Albans : Bacon wrote Shakespeare
23. Bacon’s Essay of Gardens and the Shakespeare play, the Winter’s Tale
24. Bacon’s writings on Hope , Wonder and Love can be found throughout the Shake-Speare plays and poems.
25. After the 1622 Quarto edition was first printed many changes to Othello could be found a year later in the 1623 Folio edition. Find out how these changes suggest that the author was Francis Bacon.
26. The Shakespeare Myth
27. The Medicine in Shakespeare- medical references in various Shakespeare plays are attributed to Dr.William Harvey who was Bacon’s physician and teacher when they met at Caius College, hence the character Master Doctor Caius in the Merry Wives of Windsor. Dr.Harvey is noted for a discovery about blood circulation which was made after William Shaksper’s death in 1616 and yet his discovery is in the the play Merry Wives.
28. The Tempest and Bacon’s History of the Winds
29. Francis Bacon and Macbeth, & King James
30. Francis Bacon and Richard II
31. The Tempest uses details from a private letter from one William Strachey to which Bacon, but not Shakspere, had access. Bacon almost certainly drafted a report of the Virginia Company which likewise draws on the letter.
Wow, Clayton Buerkle, your response is fascinating! Thank you for these details. What a loss to the forums by cutting off discussion of this essential question. I signed the petition you mentioned.
In your experience, what resources show that several of the historic principal authors may have collaborated to create the canon and publish it?
For instance, Elizabeth I herself may have contributed to the writing and editing of the history play, Richard II. She had carefully studied Richard II and so was well-versed in his disastrous military campaigns in Ireland and his habit of listening to flattering courtiers. She lamented, “I am Richard II, know ye not that?” after her former favorite, the Earl of Essex, had paid Shakespeare's company to perform the deposition scene of Richard II on the eve of his failed 1601 rebellion to justify overthrowing a monarch.
Hi Laura, thanks for signing the Declaration! Some of the promoters of various possible 'real' Shakespeares have brought forth evidence from their candidates' writings which have a striking resemblance to parts of Shakespeare. They may promote their candidate as the real Shakespeare or a collaborater with others. Still, if there is a single hidden Shakespeare then another possibility is that he read what these other candidates wrote and just included the material in the plays, even possibly word for word. There's also stylometric evidence that's been used as evidence of a collaborative author. But then again, Bacon was an expert cryptographer and we know that they were known to be able to perfectly mimic someone else writing style. So I think much of the evidence cannot distinguish whether there was only one true author or with one or more collaborators. Yes, I'm familiar with that Queen Elizabeth anecdote. Many of the plays, or scenes in them, are very slyly commenting on Queen Elizabeth or on their politics and elite personages of the time. Who her successor could be was off topic and could result on execution if publicly discussed. But some of the plays have parts that do seem to touch on the topic. So the writer may have been taking a huge risk in such writing. Then again, those very closest to her, like Bacon, may have been able to get away with it. Bacon was the primary advisor to Essex but we think that Essex got talked into a semi-personal rebellion by Essex and his friend the Earl of Southhampton. The Queen required Bacon to prosecute Essex and it was his duty to comply. Personally, i don't think Elizabeth contributed anything to the Shakespeare works though she may have been capable. Bacon, as one of the ultimate insiders there at the time would know all the gossip that was floating around and be in on senstive info. For instance,, in LLL there is a Russian reference that accurately portrayed a discussion held in the government with I think a Russian visiting ambassador. Well, Bacon was at the meeting as I recall with this Russian ambassodor. Also, there have been several books on all the legal references in the Works. And as I recall only Bacon had the greatest expertise in law such that it seemed to be the first field for Shakespeare to find an anecdote from.
More details on this in the novel *Lady Macbeth* (2008) by U.S. Maryland author Susan Fraser King:
"Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendant of scotland's most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband's murderer: a rising warlord named Macbeth. ... among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland -- and his wife's royal blood is the key to his ultimate success.
"Determined to protect her small son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a war or society."
pp. 334-6 Author's Note:
" Sources agree that Macbeth acted as a general for his cousin Duncan, and apocryphal tradition says that Duncan attempted to poison Macbeth ... Medieval pharmacopoeia included the herb Rue (Ruta graveolens), which was used as an antidote to poisons and herbal overdoses. ...
"Macbeth and Duncan met in combat on Moray soil in August 1040. Sources say Duncan was gravely wounded by Macbeth and taken to a nearby smithy at Pitgaveny -- smiths were often the surgeons of their day -- so it seemed logical that their fight would be hand-to-hand, and that Duncan would be surrounded in the smithy by a handful of comrades, including Macbeth and his warriors. Gruadh could easily have been there too, given the proximity of the field and the smithy to Elgin, Moray's main seat." ...
"The eleventh-century manuscript known as *The Prophecy of Berchán* gives a physical description of Macbeth, a rare jump in the historical record for any medieval king: 'The tall, red, golden-haired one, he will be pleasant.' ... written in Old Irish, [it] is a chronicle designed as prophecy. ...
"... Macbeth's motivation lay not only in his pride as High King of Scotland, put in the drive to do what was best for Scotland, while protecting his family. ... The only way to keep her [the Queen] safe was to place her son [his stepson] on the throne as her king and protector."
Lulach was crowned at Scone Abbey following Macbeth's death at the Battle of Lumphanan. His reign was very brief, lasting only until March 17, 1058, when he was defeated and killed by Duncan I's son, Malcolm III.
So, John Leake is psychologically astute Shakespearean scholar in addition to his many other talents. Fascinating post, thanks, and how fitting these thoughts are whilst wandering around the foggy highlands of Scotland. Yes, exercising the powers of state wisely is a difficult undertaking, perilous for all concerned. Which is why the American founders chose to slice and dice political power as finely as possible, knowing how dangerous it is when concentrated in the hands of a few.
I attended many Shakespeare play productions in Stratford CT as a child, but could hardly understand a word of what was being said, and could hardly glean anything of what was actually going on in those very great & talented productions in Stratford. It's fun to know more about Shakespeare and read an expert analysis.
I could hardly understand the Shakespeare plays I had to read in high school :0)
So well said John and it seems to cover many people, especially now:
'This, it seems to me, is what is so disturbing about the play in which evil arises not from a clear desire, but from a feeling of emptiness.'
That picture of the Loch Ness Monster is amazing!
That's a conspiracy theory!
Shakespeare was really Lord Edward de Vere, who traveled extensively in Europe, not Will Shakespeare who never left Stratford upon Avon, but it's too much of a money-making enterprise now. I went to Stratford in the 70s with my English class, to get the narrative fixed in my young brain...
"All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone" - Blaise Pascal
Bill Clinton once said that the tragedy of Macbeth was that he did not have an ethically sufficient object for his ambition.
Edit: I found the exact quotation: “I think ‘Macbeth’ is a great play about someone whose immense ambition has an ethically inadequate object.”
interesting comment.
this kind of allows some inference into Slick Willies inner modus operandi on life!
Perhaps a bit more noble than his OWN wife.
Perhaps, but not!
Cut from same tree.
A friend was giving a speech when his crew turned out the lights stopped her speech and turned up lights with Bill moving her aside to announce POTUS run. He later apologized and ask her out on a date. She declined (wisely) telling him no as he was married. He kept after her for a few month's.
Holy Crapp. . .
I think Bill is a great poster child for Macbeth. We have Lady Clinton.
John, I loved reading this! What great insights, as always. My dad's first role was actually as the Bloody Sergeant in a production of Macbeth that Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne helped create in New York. The response to his letter requesting an audition was "Dear John Ireland: Miss Fontanne has asked me to tell you never, never, never to call "Macbeth" "McBeth", which you apparently did in your last letter"! Coincidentally, one of his last stage roles was playing Duncan/Macbeth alternating with Charlton Heston in the roles, while Vanessa Redgrave was a riveting Lady Macbeth. (I'm sure you can imagine the political flyers that were slipped nightly under the dressing room doors between those two costars was never-ending!) :))
John Ireland as Macbeth - fabulous.
Thank you, Sharon. I’m glad I have some great photos of it :)
Your dad was John Ireland! My regards, he was a fine actor
Oh, thank you— I’m so happy to hear that! He was a really wonderful dad, too :)
Happy travels, John. Your writing is exquisite as always. Thankfully, this old codger easily recognized your use of AI pictures within although sometimes this is a struggle for me. Typically, I get annoyed by AI-generated pictures, but in your case, I found it clever.
I have never read MacBeth John. THanks for the very interesting review. You are surely a talented writer. I appreciate your prose.
Lady Macbeth must have been a tough old boot rather than a pretty little flower because she survived. She clearly had had a child and presumably it died. She wanted more from life. I always though Macbeth was a bit thick - simply "the muscle" - which was why he was so easy to influence and then so easy to feel sorry for his actions. You're right though - the Macbeths are harder to explain than the other Shakespearean tragedies and possibly harder to sympathise with.
For those who would love a Shakespeare-related mystery (free to watch). Made headlines in Norway:
EP1: https://vimeo.com/94648237
EP2: https://vimeo.com/94648236
EP3: https://vimeo.com/94648239
EP4: https://vimeo.com/94648238
Checking it out.
Thank you John L for your interesting article written whilst in Scotland. Aye, this land is MacBeth's - land of tragedies, independence & solitaire.
And camper vans of dubious provenance
One of the best way of a Scottish experience..a thrilling camper/caravan adventure in Scotland by touring the breathtaking North Coast 500 (NC500) or exploring the rugged Highlands and Cairngorms. Scotland offers dramatic mountain trails, pristine lochside views, and world-class nature reserves right on your doorstep... Whilst it is still there...
Inspiring . I will put MacBeth on my list of read again. Reinforces what I already know, examine your thoughts. Do not buy into them. They are often not telling you the truth. Of course nothing of real value can be gained through treachery.
Thankfully John has not related (at least directly) how Macbeth is somehow related to today’s political happenings and their motivations. Human nature, more aptly labeled good or evil, exists and will exist, taking many forms and the author of many outcomes.
Irene Coslet of the London School of Economics published in Jan 2026 'The Real Shakespeare: Emilia Bassano Willoughby.’ Bassano was exiled from the court of Tudor Queen Elizabeth I in 1592 into an arranged marriage with Alphonso Lanier, a profligate Court musician who used up all her family wealth carousing with illiterate scoundrels, including the actor William Shakespeare, while she raised Henry and Odillya. Only her son, Henry, survived to adulthood; her daughter, Odillya, tragically passed away in infancy. Her life experiences appear repeatedly throughout the plays and form the basis of her believable characters and their psychologically accurate portrayals.
Irene Coslet summarizes her book:
"A new piece of research evidence that I outline in my upcoming book shows that Shakespeare was not a man, but a woman: a black woman, Anglo-Venetian, of Moroccan descent, and covertly Jewish, named Emilia Bassano (London, 1569-1645). She was the daughter of a Venetian Court musician. Following the passing of her father when she was seven, Bassano was fostered into a noble household in England, where she received a high level of education. She spent her youth at the English Court as a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I before she was banished and forced into an unwanted marriage in 1592. ...
"She has been associated with Shakespeare since the 1970s, when the historian Alfred Leslie Rowse of Oxford found evidence that Bassano was the mistress of the patron of Shakespeare’s acting company. ...
"John Hudson first proposed the theory that Bassano was Shakespeare in 2013. In the Early Modern period, women were prohibited from writing drama ad acting. In general, they were restricted from writing literature for publication and engaging in public activities: Hudson posited that Emilia Bassano adopted a pen name to be able to write. ...
"My research concludes that the pioneer of the Western world and English language was a Subaltern (a black, Jewish woman), challenging the Eurocentric and patriarchal paradigm. The key question I seeks to address is whether society is prepared to give leadership and authority (Author-function) to an individual who would be generally regarded as a Subaltern. Attributing the Western heritage only to white men is not only unrealistic, but it also perpetrates inequality and injustice in society."
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2026/01/16/was-shakespeare-a-black-woman-why-authorship-and-representation-matter/
To be taken seriously you would need to first write a book refuting all the immense evidence for Francis Bacon at sirbacon.org, and then also the large amount of evidence put forward for the Earl of Oxford.
Already addressed by academics, actors, playwrights and popular authors, e.g.:
In 1909 Mark Twain dedicated a monograph to the authorship question, entitled "Is Shakespeare Dead?" Where he compared the Stratfordian theory to the skeleton of a brontosaur: in order to keep the Stratford, myth from falling apart, literary scholars have injected so many ad hoc theories into the model that it now looks like a brontosaur held together with plaster.
In 1964 in *My Autobiography,* Charlie Chaplin wrote that he did not believe that Shakespeare is the boy from Stratford. Rather, he saw the author as an aristocrat and princely.
In 2013 and 2015, John Hudson counted more than eighty schools and sub-schools unable to provide a convincing alternative or approach the Shakespeare authorship question.
Both Christopher Marlowe and the Earl of Oxford -- so far the two most popular candidates for creating the canon -- we're both dead while the plays and sonnets were penned. As for the plot of the 2011 movie, *Anonymous, why would Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford, conceal his identity when he was known as a playwright, the plays were produced with Court approval by Lord Chamberlain's Men, and highly popular throughout Elizabethan England?
Francis Bacon, best known for establishing the scientific method, was a prolific author of Essays and a propounder of classic philosophy. He focused on producing philosophical and literary works during his 1621 retirement until his death on April 9, 1626. He never wrote a play with his name on it.
Sorry Laura, but it looks to me like you have a very superficial familiarity with the authorship subject. I haven't really been involved in it for about 10 years now but I was very active in the debates online. One large forum where I began posting became probably the most viewed of all subjects. To the extent that they seemed to have totally deleted the whole forum just because of it. Then another forum, Playshakespeare.com, much larger, had a debate going that I joined and took on all comers while also reviewing some of the top Stratfordian books, like from James Shapiro. The Stratfordians were quite confident at first but over time they were clearly losing the argument, so much so that they took away that Forum also. They seemed to understand that they were clearly losing and so they advised the mainstream Shakespeare scholars to not debate the topic any more. One of my posts, from June 2013, had a paragraphy that started with this: "We now find that both sides of the dispute are in agreement that ‘the authorship question’ is important. Professor Shapiro lamented the lack of scholarly interest in the topic; the stylometric analysts Elliott and Valenza agreed, the leaders of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust now say it’s important, and now also many other scholars supporting them say it’s important. So, from any Shakespeare enthusiast, we shouldn’t hear “it’s [the authorship question] not important” or “it doesn’t matter who wrote them”. Now, more Shakespeare enthusiasts, are likely to become at least somewhat knowledgeable about the basic arguments on both sides of the question. Just gathering one-sided arguments to use as ‘ammunition’ is not going to show any intellectual maturity. The main problem is that perhaps no one can review close to what all has been written about so many alternative candidates." But at this point I'll just leave with this. Go to this website and read the evidence and who all has signed the Declaraton: https://www.doubtaboutwill.org/ And then here are top points for Francis Bacon. See how many you can refute: 1. The only Shakespeare notebook, a collection of expressions, phrases, and sentences, many of which appear in the Shakespeare plays. This is the Promus, written by Francis Bacon. This notebook has not been mentioned by a single Shakespeare biographer. (There is a very good psychological reason why orthodox scholarship is so concerned to repudiate any suggestion of Lord Bacon’s connection with Shake-speare. This is to protect the Bard (whom all admire, whoever he was) from the stigma of Lord Bacon’s supposed corruption, which they in their ignorance take for granted.-Martin Pares)
2. The only contemporary document bearing the names of Shakespeare and Bacon and the titles of two Shakespeare plays (Richard II and Richard III) and Shakespeare phrases. The Northumberland Manuscript which resides where it was discovered in Alnwick Castle, can be found an interesting juxtaposition of Bacon’s Christian name and William Shakespeare. The page consists of a contents list of speeches and other manuscripts. Underneath “by ffrancis William Shakespeare” we read “Richard II and Richard III.” Over the word ‘ffrancis’ is written another word which it is impossible to read until the whole page is turned upside down. Then it is seen that the word is ‘ffrancis ‘ and next to it , also upside down, are the words, ‘your sovereign.’ The long word in Love’s Labour’s Lost also appears in the Northumberland Manuscript. The probable date of the Manuscript is 1597.
3. Bacon -Shakespeare Coincidences
4. The Manes Verulamiani, a collection of obituary poems written in honor of Bacon by his friends, in Latin, some of which quote the expressions used on the Shakespeare monument in the Stratford church. Several of these tributes praise Bacon for his comedies, tragedies and poetry.
5. Bacon’s royal parentage, may be considered one of several reasons for his anonymity as author.
6. Bacon’s knowledge of Hermetic, Rosicrucian, Neoplatonic and Kabbalistic teaching. Rosicrucian themes are found in:
Bacon’s New Atlantis
As You Like It
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Venus and Adonis
The Shakespeare Sonnets
7. That Bacon was known as a poet by his contemporaries is validated by their tributes.(Yet this prodigious writer left hardly any poetry printed under his own name.) Perhaps the most important proof of the esteem in which he was held is exhibited in the “Great Assizes Holden in Parnassus” published in 1645.
a) Bacon as a concealed Poet : Contemporary Evidence
b) Bacon as a concealed Poet : Posthumous Eulogies
c) Bacon as a concealed Poet : His own Admission
8. The nonsense word in Love’s Labour’s Lost, honorificabilitudinitatibus.
9. Letter from Bacon to King James,Nov.1622:
“…for my pen, if contemplative, going on with The Historie of Henry the Eighth.”
Letter from Bacon to the Duke of Buckingham, 21 February 1623:
…Prince Charles “who, I hope, ere long will make me leave King Henry VIII and set me on work in relation to His Majesty’s adventures.”
Letter from Bacon to the Duke of Buckingham, 26 June 1623:
“…since you say the Prince hath not forgot his commandment touching my history of Henry VIII.”
January 1623. Bacon applied to the records office for the loan of archive documents relating to the reign of Henry VIII.
December 1623 ‘ The Historie of King Henry VIII’ printed for the first time in the Shakespeare First Folio.
A brief, 30-line summary of Henry’s reign was printed after Bacon’s death under his own name.
10. The St.Albans Mural, in the White Hart Inn, dated 1600 illustrating scenes from Venus and Adonis. At least six details have been found which link this large painting with Bacon, his nearby house at Gorhambury, the Rosicrucians, led by Bacon, and the Shakespeare plays. One of the six rules imposed on members of the Rosicrucian order, was anonymity for a hundred years. If this mural had been discovered in Stratford, or Bankside, it would have been mentioned in all books on the life of Shakespeare since its discovery in 1985. It has not been mentioned once.
11. How the Shakespeare Plays Fit Bacon’s Life-Story
12. See Bacon’s influence behind ‘The Comedy of Errors’, ‘Julius Caesar’ & ‘Anthony and Cleopatra’
13. Thirty-Two reasons for believing that Bacon wrote Shakespeare
14. Francis Bacon and Timon of Athens
15. A Perspective on Bacon & Hamlet
16. Another viewpoint on Bacon and Hamlet
17. The Ghost or Spirit in Hamlet and Bacon’s scientific observations on the nature of Spirit
18. Contemporary Evidence of Bacon linked to the Stage & Bacon’s integration of Stagecraft with his other Writings
19. Frequent references made by Bacon regarding the Theatre and Stage
20. Mutual Themes (Manners, Mind and Morals) are found in the works of Bacon & the Shakespeare Plays
21. Mutual thoughts and subjects can be found in the works of Bacon and Shakespeare collated by W.F.C .Wigston in his book Francis Bacon : Poet, Prophet, Philosopher,Versus Phantom Captain Shakespeare The Rosicrucian Mask
22. Transcript from a lecture given on April 28, 1910 in St. Albans : Bacon wrote Shakespeare
23. Bacon’s Essay of Gardens and the Shakespeare play, the Winter’s Tale
24. Bacon’s writings on Hope , Wonder and Love can be found throughout the Shake-Speare plays and poems.
25. After the 1622 Quarto edition was first printed many changes to Othello could be found a year later in the 1623 Folio edition. Find out how these changes suggest that the author was Francis Bacon.
26. The Shakespeare Myth
27. The Medicine in Shakespeare- medical references in various Shakespeare plays are attributed to Dr.William Harvey who was Bacon’s physician and teacher when they met at Caius College, hence the character Master Doctor Caius in the Merry Wives of Windsor. Dr.Harvey is noted for a discovery about blood circulation which was made after William Shaksper’s death in 1616 and yet his discovery is in the the play Merry Wives.
28. The Tempest and Bacon’s History of the Winds
29. Francis Bacon and Macbeth, & King James
30. Francis Bacon and Richard II
31. The Tempest uses details from a private letter from one William Strachey to which Bacon, but not Shakspere, had access. Bacon almost certainly drafted a report of the Virginia Company which likewise draws on the letter.
32. Outline and Summary : What evidence points to Bacon as the author of the Shakespeare Plays? https://sirbacon.org/baconian-evidence-for-shakespeare-authorship/
Wow, Clayton Buerkle, your response is fascinating! Thank you for these details. What a loss to the forums by cutting off discussion of this essential question. I signed the petition you mentioned.
In your experience, what resources show that several of the historic principal authors may have collaborated to create the canon and publish it?
For instance, Elizabeth I herself may have contributed to the writing and editing of the history play, Richard II. She had carefully studied Richard II and so was well-versed in his disastrous military campaigns in Ireland and his habit of listening to flattering courtiers. She lamented, “I am Richard II, know ye not that?” after her former favorite, the Earl of Essex, had paid Shakespeare's company to perform the deposition scene of Richard II on the eve of his failed 1601 rebellion to justify overthrowing a monarch.
Hi Laura, thanks for signing the Declaration! Some of the promoters of various possible 'real' Shakespeares have brought forth evidence from their candidates' writings which have a striking resemblance to parts of Shakespeare. They may promote their candidate as the real Shakespeare or a collaborater with others. Still, if there is a single hidden Shakespeare then another possibility is that he read what these other candidates wrote and just included the material in the plays, even possibly word for word. There's also stylometric evidence that's been used as evidence of a collaborative author. But then again, Bacon was an expert cryptographer and we know that they were known to be able to perfectly mimic someone else writing style. So I think much of the evidence cannot distinguish whether there was only one true author or with one or more collaborators. Yes, I'm familiar with that Queen Elizabeth anecdote. Many of the plays, or scenes in them, are very slyly commenting on Queen Elizabeth or on their politics and elite personages of the time. Who her successor could be was off topic and could result on execution if publicly discussed. But some of the plays have parts that do seem to touch on the topic. So the writer may have been taking a huge risk in such writing. Then again, those very closest to her, like Bacon, may have been able to get away with it. Bacon was the primary advisor to Essex but we think that Essex got talked into a semi-personal rebellion by Essex and his friend the Earl of Southhampton. The Queen required Bacon to prosecute Essex and it was his duty to comply. Personally, i don't think Elizabeth contributed anything to the Shakespeare works though she may have been capable. Bacon, as one of the ultimate insiders there at the time would know all the gossip that was floating around and be in on senstive info. For instance,, in LLL there is a Russian reference that accurately portrayed a discussion held in the government with I think a Russian visiting ambassador. Well, Bacon was at the meeting as I recall with this Russian ambassodor. Also, there have been several books on all the legal references in the Works. And as I recall only Bacon had the greatest expertise in law such that it seemed to be the first field for Shakespeare to find an anecdote from.
ticks all the boxes doesn't it
Robert Frederick's interpretation of the play as the embodiment of "the gnostic inversion of all values" is very compelling: https://robertfrederick.substack.com/p/ep-5-the-tragedy-of-macbeth-part
Lady Macbeth is the original
Alpha-Gal.
More details on this in the novel *Lady Macbeth* (2008) by U.S. Maryland author Susan Fraser King:
"Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendant of scotland's most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husband's murderer: a rising warlord named Macbeth. ... among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland -- and his wife's royal blood is the key to his ultimate success.
"Determined to protect her small son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a war or society."
pp. 334-6 Author's Note:
" Sources agree that Macbeth acted as a general for his cousin Duncan, and apocryphal tradition says that Duncan attempted to poison Macbeth ... Medieval pharmacopoeia included the herb Rue (Ruta graveolens), which was used as an antidote to poisons and herbal overdoses. ...
"Macbeth and Duncan met in combat on Moray soil in August 1040. Sources say Duncan was gravely wounded by Macbeth and taken to a nearby smithy at Pitgaveny -- smiths were often the surgeons of their day -- so it seemed logical that their fight would be hand-to-hand, and that Duncan would be surrounded in the smithy by a handful of comrades, including Macbeth and his warriors. Gruadh could easily have been there too, given the proximity of the field and the smithy to Elgin, Moray's main seat." ...
"The eleventh-century manuscript known as *The Prophecy of Berchán* gives a physical description of Macbeth, a rare jump in the historical record for any medieval king: 'The tall, red, golden-haired one, he will be pleasant.' ... written in Old Irish, [it] is a chronicle designed as prophecy. ...
"... Macbeth's motivation lay not only in his pride as High King of Scotland, put in the drive to do what was best for Scotland, while protecting his family. ... The only way to keep her [the Queen] safe was to place her son [his stepson] on the throne as her king and protector."
Lulach was crowned at Scone Abbey following Macbeth's death at the Battle of Lumphanan. His reign was very brief, lasting only until March 17, 1058, when he was defeated and killed by Duncan I's son, Malcolm III.
So, John Leake is psychologically astute Shakespearean scholar in addition to his many other talents. Fascinating post, thanks, and how fitting these thoughts are whilst wandering around the foggy highlands of Scotland. Yes, exercising the powers of state wisely is a difficult undertaking, perilous for all concerned. Which is why the American founders chose to slice and dice political power as finely as possible, knowing how dangerous it is when concentrated in the hands of a few.