Shakespeare

For 400 years the question, "Did William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon write those now-44 plays that are attributed to him? Questions arose because despite literate letter-writing women in the plays, Shakespeare's daughters were illiterate. Plus, after writing about 888,000 words for the plays, not a single handwritten word of Shakespeare has ever turned up. Only six signatures, and five of those were signed by other people. Shakespeare had no books, no library, no letters to him or from him, and ten writers who wrote thousands of words and came from Stratford or Warwickshire, never mentioned Shakespeare as a writer. Most people assume because he was an actor Lord Chamberlains Men and The King's Men, that he also wrote the plays. No other major writer has ever endured such questions about their work. But Shakespeare's inconsistencies have led 80 other writers to be listed as having written the plays. Likeliest include Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, John Florio, and Christopher Marlowe. But others have compelling arguments as well. Some evidence was clear even during Shakespeare's days, like understanding that more than one hand wrote Pericles, Prince of Tyre, and the name of John Fletcher was alongside Shakespeare's on the cover of The Two Noble Kingsman, proof that Shakespeare did not write all of the plays, which leads critics to believe that a great deal of collaboration was going on. Not Who You Thought He Was shows the reasoning, using 2016 research from The Oxfordian, Mark Bradbeer's 2022 book, as well as computer programs and testing of the writings that show that others wrote the plays. They have turned the Shakespearean world on its head. And one major fact: when "Shakespeare" wrote Richard II, Queen Elizabeth I was so angry she wanted to find the writer to rack him--or even worse. Find out why the Stratfordian man was a frontman for seven or eight others--including two women--and never wrote a single word of any of the plays. Read this book to discover the different views about the possible writers--and big surprises.