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Wise scholars have been debating the authorship of William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets for over two hundred years. The question repeatedly asked is, who wrote Shakespeare’s plays? Ten or more different people have been suggested as the legitimate author of Shakespeare’s works. The three most widely accepted candidates seem to be William Shakespeare, the actor, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and Sir Henry Neville, Ambassador to France and distant relative of William Shakespeare. 

The Stratfordian Case 

The abundant historical evidence shows that William Shakespeare (recorded as Shakespeare at his baptism) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He moved to London, becoming a writer, an actor, and a part owner of the acting company, the King’s Men, which owned the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars Theatre. He spent time in both London and Stratford, where he died in 1616. 

Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford at The King’s New School, though there are no surviving records of his early education. At the school he would have received an excellent education, and he would have learned Latin and studied some Roman playwrights. There is no evidence or suggestion that Shakespeare received further formal education at a university. It is likely that he was self-educated during his years in London, much as fellow dramatist and friend Ben Jonson, and fellow writers John Webster, Thomas Dekker, and Edmund Spenser. 

In addition to the historical evidence referenced above, there is abundant written evidence that William Shakespeare was a poet and a playwright. For one, a couple of narrative poems, “Venus and Adonis” and also “The Rape of Lucrece” were published with a dedication to the Earl of Southampton, his patron, and were signed by William Shakespeare. Also, Thomas Thorpe published the volume, “Shake-speares Sonnets”. Though it is not known whether the publication of the volume was authorized, it is clearly attributed to be the work of Shakespeare. Also, many of his plays, including “Hamlet” and “King Lear,” were published during his lifetime and attributed to William Shakespeare. 

Further, the First Folio of 1623, the posthumous collection of Shakespeare’s plays published by his friends and fellow King’s Men actors, Heminges and Condell, is dedicated to Shakespeare. The Folio is titled, “Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,” and Heminges and Condell dedicated the volume to Shakespeare. 

Finally, Shakespeare’s death was noted and mourned. William Basse wrote a famous elegy, copies of which still exist, where he says that Shakespeare deserves to be buried in Westminster Abbey next to Chaucer, Beaumont, and Spenser. A few years after his death a monument was erected in Stratford depicting Shakespeare as a writer sitting at his desk, pen in hand. 

The Anti-Stratfordians 
The Oxfordian Case 

The anti-Stratfordians, those who believe that someone other than Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays and sonnets attributed to him, make some strong arguments. They point to Shakespeare’s modest education and his lack of travel outside of Stratford and London. Scholars question how he could have written plays that required considerable geographical and political knowledge, and which required knowledge of French, Spanish, and Italian sources, languages that Shakespeare could not read. The vocabulary in his plays seems to be far greater than the modestly educated Shakespeare could have possessed. 

Also, the anti-Stratfordians point out that Shakespeare’s will did not mention any books, manuscripts, or a library. The will dealt in depth with household items but did not mention anything of literary importance. Numerous plays were unpublished and unperformed at the time of his death, and scholars believe it reasonable that the author would have made mention of them if they were truly his. 

The Oxfordians believe that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, is more likely to have been the true author of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. For one, Edward de Vere was a talented and well-recognized poet and playwright whose word choices and phrases resembled those of Shakespeare. He was well enough educated, a Cambridge graduate at age 14, and widely enough traveled to have the knowledge to write the historical plays of Shakespeare. In many of the sonnets and plays are references to events that parallel de Vere’s own life. In fact, some consider the play “Hamlet” to be a near autobiography of de Vere’s life. 

It is true that Edward de Vere died in 1604, before eleven of Shakespeare’s works have traditionally been dated. The Oxfordians point out errors in the traditional dating of Shakespeare’s later plays and make convincing arguments that the plays were written before de Vere’s death and then published posthumously, not an unusual occurrence. 

The Nevillian Case 

Recently a strong case has been made for the idea that Sir Thomas Neville is the most likely author of Shakespeare’s works. Neville was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and was fluent in many languages. He traveled for four years on the continent of Europe directly after graduation and in the company of an Oxford scholar. He was the Ambassador to France for two years, and then he became involved with the Essex conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. Neville and his friend, Lord Southampton, were convicted, fined, and confined to the Tower of London. 

The Tower, for the rich like Neville, was more like a hotel than a prison. There is evidence to suggest that Neville wrote many of the Sonnets, including the ones that were addressed to Lord Southampton, while confined to the Tower. It is also here that Neville wrote the play, “Hamlet.” Later, he published “Shake-speares Sonnets” and wrote the dedication himself. He dedicated the sonnets to Lord Southampton. A notebook kept by Neville while in the Tower contained detailed notes that ended up as part of the play, “Henry VIII.” 

The Tower experience also explains the shift in the focus of Shakespeare’s plays from histories and comedies to the great tragedies, all of which were written after Neville was released from the Tower when James I became the king. 

Other evidence that Neville may have been the author of Shakespeare’s works includes a statistical correlation of word frequency between Neville’s private and diplomatic letters and the works of Shakespeare. Also, a document was discovered in 1867 that shows that Neville practiced writing William Shakespeare’s name. The document shows 17 attempts at duplicating the famous signature. 

Some scholars suggest that Sir Neville used the actor Shakespeare as a front man for the plays and sonnets. Neville and Shakespeare were distant relatives and knew each other, probably through Lord Southampton, Shakespeare’s patron and Neville’s good friend. The suggestion is that Neville needed a pseudonym for his plays and sonnets because some of the plays were politically too sensitive. Neville was descended from rivals of the Tudors and Henry VIII had executed his grandfather, so he was concerned that his plays would be seen as seditious. 

Scholars also suggest that Ben Jonson, who was employed at Gresham College, which was owned by the Neville family, knew of the front man arrangement. Since Jonson was involved with putting Shakespeare’s name on the First Folio, it is suggested that he did so at the request of the Neville family. The argument is that Shakespeare had agreed to the front man arrangement many years earlier, also at the request of Sir Neville and his family. 

The debate about the authorship of Shakespeare’s works continues without a resolution in sight. There are numerous other candidates, including the idea that the plays were written by a group of people. Perhaps someday the discovery of an original manuscript will be found and the question will be answered once and for all.

The Elizabethans inherited from the middle ages a view of man’s body as being composed of a mixture of the four elements, earth, water, air and fire, which were supplied by the intake of food. The liver converted food into four different kinds of liquids, or “humours”, which in turn gave moisture and vital heat to the body.

The four humours were the choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic. The melancholic, being cold and dry, was associated with earth. The phlegmatic humour was cold and moist and associated with water. The sanguine humour was located in the blood, which was hot and moist, and the choleric humour was associated with fire and was hot and dry.

Fire = Choleric = Hot and Dry = Bile
Air = Sanguine = Hot and Moist = Blood
Water = Phlegmatic = Cold and Moist = Phlegm
Earth = Melancholic = Cold and Dry = Black Bile

It was the particular mixture or combination of these humours, or elements as they were also called, that informed each individual human being with a particular temperament or “complexion”.

The ideal man would consist of a perfect mixture of the four elements. In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, Anthony describes Brutus as having been just such a man:

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed up in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world ‘This was a man!’

Few people are blessed with such an ideal mixture and most exhibit a predominant humour or combination of humours.

For example, if someone was said to be of a choleric temperament it was because his character reflected the predominate tendency of that humour; in other words, he was a quick tempered, impatient, bilious sort of chap.

A phlegmatic character was placid and rather indolent, lacking in feelings and tending towards imbecility.

A sanguine character was ruddy of countenance, of a cheerful disposition and a lover of the pleasures of the flesh. Many considered this the best of all the humours.

Finally, the melancholic type was moody, sensitive, reflective, and given to bouts of mania or world-weary sadness or chagrin, like Antonio in The Merchant of Venice:

In sooth I know not why I am so sad,
It wearies me…

It was the melancholic humour that was given the most attention in the Renaissance period because it was the humour that could bring on bouts of madness, ecstasy, fury, and was even linked to divine inspiration.

Socrates and Plato were said to have been melancholic types whose philosophical insights were divinely inspired.

Poets and artists were also thought to have melancholic temperaments, and an attitude of “tristezza” became fashionable among young intellectuals in Shakespeare’s day.

In his Anatomy of Melancholy, Burton remarks that melancholia “advanceth men’s conceits more than any other humour” - in other words, the melancholic type is given to witticisms and has a swift and fertile imagination.

Michel De Montaigne (1533-1592), who popularized the essay as a literary genre, described his natural complexion as being a stable mixture of the sanguine and melancholic, the former keeping the latter in check.

However, when he relinquished his business affairs and retired to his country estate to live the life of a gentleman of leisure, a sudden bereavement threw him into a profound melancholic depression which he feared might develop into full-blown madness. His spirit, usually tempered by the sanguine humour and therefore free of sadness, suddenly “bolted off like a runaway horse” and gave birth to “chimeras and fantastic monstrosities, one after another” (Essays I:8).

If melancholia or any of the other humours takes on excess it corrupts and burns up to become “melancholy adust” and if one’s predominate humour is melancholia, then madness is a real danger.

Montaigne’s solution was to write about himself in the light of classical history, personal experience and anecdotes he picked up here and there. He analyzed and questioned everything that interested him (except the doctrines of the Catholic faith) with the sceptical eye of a student of Sextus Empiricus.

Montaigne’s melancholic humour and his intellectual scepticism are thought to have influenced Shakespeare in his creation of Hamlet, who is the image of a sceptical prince par excellence. Much of the play revolves around Hamlet’s search for evidence that Claudius did indeed murder Hamlet’s father.

Hamlet grieves over the loss of his father and is horrified by his mother’s hasty marriage with his uncle, Claudius, the new king. Hamlet’s melancholy humour is clearly conveyed in his first soliloquy:

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!

Hamlet’s melancholy has become corrupted and “burnt” with excessive heat, and during the course of the play we see him take on various roles or undergo experiences that might be linked to “melancholy adust”.

He sees a ghost, just as Montaigne reported seeing chimeras; his language is full of poetic conceit and witty inspiration; he apes a lover’s ecstacies; he kills Polonius in a moment of fury and ultimately kills Claudius in a frenzied assault hastened by his knowledge that he too is dying.

And of course, Hamlet feigns madness. But he does it so convincingly that we wonder whether or not he has actually gone mad, or at least whether one would have to be mad in order to choose to feign madness.

Whatever the truth behind the claims that Shakespeare was influenced by Montaigne when he was writing Hamlet, one thing is certain, and that is that Hamlet is for much of the play an excellent model of melancholia.

Why not listen to this full cast production. The Tempest by William Shakespeare. BBC radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Raging storms and rich, beautiful music combine to magical effect in this radio production of Shakespeare’s allegorical last play, where mystical forces work to restore harmony and order to an estranged community.

The play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre, and the accompanying booklet includes a scene-by-scene synopsis, full character analysis, brief biographies of the leading actors and of Shakespeare himself, as well as an essay from the producer on their interpretation of the play.

Revitalised, original and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.

Written By
William Shakespeare

An Anthology Of Shakespearian Speches Performed By The World’s Leading Actors

BBC Radio Collection - All The World’s A Stage

Romeo & Juliet - Act I, Scene III
“O Romeo, Romeo - wherefore art thou Romeo”. This impassioned speech is beautifully spoken by Fay Compton in this BBC Sound archives recording.

Hamlet - Act III, Scene I
‘To be or not to be - that is the question….’ In this BBC Sound Archive recording, Michael Redgrave stars as Shakespeare’s troubled Prince of Denmark.

Henry V - Act IV, Scene III
‘This day is called the feast of Crispian….’ In one of the most famous and inspirational of Shakespeare’s speeches, Richard Burton’s rich and resonant voice delivers Henry V’s address to his army on the eve of Agincourt!

King Lear - Act II, Scene IV
‘I prithee, daughter, do not make me mad…’ Alec Guinness’s performance as King Lear stirs the listener in this recording from the BBC Sound Archives.

Macbeth - Act I, Scene VII
‘If it were done when ’tis done…’ From the BBC Sound Archives, one of Shakespeare’s most famous and memorable speeches, with Paul Scofield and Peggy Ashcroft as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, bringing these ominous words vividly to life.

Macbeth - Act II, Scene II
‘Is this a dagger which I see before me…..’ With Denis Quilley as Macbeth, this recording from the BBC Sound Archives brings Shakespeare’s memorable words to life..

Richard III - Act I, Scene I
‘Now is the winter of our discontent….’ Ian Holm delivers King Richard IIIs soliloquy, bringing Shakespeare’s wonderful lines, full of pyschological insight, vividly to life.

The Merchant Of Venice - Act IV, Scene I
‘The quality of mercy is not strained….’ In this recording from the BBC Sound Archives, Hannah Gordon is Shakespeare’s wise Portia.

Download and listen to William Shakespeare’s most famous speeches now

No one would argue that William Shakespeare is the most performed playwright in the world. Shakespeare plays are the cornerstone of the school curriculum in English Literature studies and they have been translated into almost every language. They have been adapted as television series and movies, attracting a younger generation to the text. Some plays have been updated to modern times and modern locations. A famous example is the musical West Side Story, adapted from Romeo and Juliet. The stage productions are mostly performed in the traditional way but some interpretations have been experimental, expressing the vision of the director.

Shakespeare was equally adept at writing tragedy and comedy. Tragedies such as Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet and King Lear are powerful tales of betrayal, murder and the quest for power. One of the most poplar comedies is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which also involves a fantasy plot and romance. The long list of Shakespeare plays also include historical themes and royal leaders, such as King Richard III, Henry IV and King John.

The plays were performed at the Globe Theatre in London and in Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford on Avon. A large tourist industry revolves around the locations associated with Shakespeare and his family. The early printed texts are also prized, especially the first published volume of 36 plays known as the First Folio. Copies of this are very valuable, one of which is on public display in the British Library in London.

Scholars pore over the texts, analyzing sources and plot lines. There are those that dispute the authorship of some or all of the Shakespeare plays but they are in the minority. Of this group, most of them cite the real authors as either Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe. These claims are not taken seriously by the majority of experts.

Movie versions of the plays date back to the silent era and there have been many memorable performances. Actors tackling the Bard have included Lawrence Olivier, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton and Kenneth Brannagh. One of the most popular adaptations of recent times is Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Clare Danes. The direction is fast paced and takes place in a contemporary setting but the script remains faithful to the text and to the spirit of the story.

It is inconceivable to think of a time when Shakespeare will not be performed in some form. Schoolchildren sometimes struggle with the text, which is why it is so important to keep the plays alive in stage and film productions. Shakespeare plays are like Mount Everest to every actor and will always remain so.

On audio for download

William Shakespear’s - The Merchant of Venice

BBC radio has a unique heritage when it comes to Shakespeare. Since 1923, when the newly formed company broadcast its first full-length play, generations of actors and producers have honed and perfected the craft of making Shakespeare to be heard.

Love, bigotry, greed and justice are entwined in this clear, fast-moving production, where the precision of radio gives added resonance to the powerful words of the trial scene.

The play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of the Royal National Theatre, and the accompanying booklet includes a scene-by-scene synopsis, full character analysis, brief biographies of the leading actors and of Shakespeare himself, as well as an essay from the producer on their interpretation of the play.

Revitalised, original and comprehensive, this is Shakespeare for the new millennium.

Written By
William Shakespeare

Tags:WilliamShakespeare,Shakespeare,The Merchant of Venice

Romeo and Juliet is the play which, in English literature at least, effectively invented the modern love story. Its charm and its power derive from the romantic setting (Verona, an Italian Renaissance city), the youthful innocence and ardour of the lovers, and (perhaps crucially) the excitement and drama created by the opposition which they have to contend with, an opposition which does not simply stem from the older generation but which is starkly present in the feud between their two families and which seems to be supported by the malignity of Fate. The richly realized context of their love is additionally enhanced by (for example) the superbly concrete character of Juliet’s old Nurse, who fondly encourages the pair until the ‘better’ offer of Paris’s love comes along. The Nurse’s sentimentality and materialism are all too convincing, and are symptomatic of the way in which Shakespeare suggests that none of the other characters can match the lovers for sincerity and steadfastness, especially once the brilliant and impulsive Mercutio has gone. Youthful as they are, we see that they are the people who grow and mature as the play progresses: Romeo, as sensitive and intelligent as the later Hamlet, realises that his ‘love’ for Rosaline is no such thing but merely infatuation: however instant the development of his love for Juliet may be, it is ‘the real thing’, as is Juliet’s for him. The imagery of light and religion which Shakespeare consistently bestows upon the lovers is suggestive of the truth and value of their feelings: at the masked ball where they first meet, Romeo’s immediate reaction to Juliet is that ’she doth teach the torches to burn bright’, and their first words to each other are all built on the conceit that he is a ‘pilgrim’ and she a ’saint’.

If You are interested what this is all about

William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s classic as dramatized by renowned vocal actor David I. Davies

Do you love to listen to shakespeare’s classic, below you see what you have in this audiobook. Hamlet One Voice is published by One Voice Recordings and narrator is David Ian Davies

1. Polonius suggests Hamlet stop mourning his father’s death
2. Hamlet compares two brothers, talks of his mother’s haste into marriage
3. 0! that this too, too, solid flesh would melt
4. Hamlet meets Horatio, learns of his father’s ghost
5. Laertes bids good-bye to his sister
6. Polonius gives advice to his son
7. Hamlet and Horatio confront the ghost
8. Polonius tells the King and Queen that their noble son is mad
9. Hamlet’s speech to the players
10. Hamlet proclaims what a rogue and peasant slave he is
11. Hamlet’s speech,"To be or not to be"
12. Hamlet tells Ophelia to get to a nunnery
13. Claudius feels that Hamlet is not totally mad
14. Polonius and Claudius plot to get rid of Hamlet
15. Hamlet’s speech to the players
16. At the play
17. Polonius prepares to spy on Hamlet
18. Claudius prays and Hamlet refrains from revenge
19. Hamlet’s speech,"Tis now the very witching time of night"
20. Hamlet meets with his mother and kills the spying Polonius
21. Hamlet exposes the King to his mother and ghost reappears to Hamlet
22. Hamlet’s speech,"How all occasions"
23. Claudius summons Hamlet and sends him off to England
24. Ophelia’s mad scene
25. Laertes confronts Claudius and learns of Ophelia’s drowning
26. The graveyard scene featuring Hamlet, Horatio, and grave digger
27. Ophelia’s funeral
28. Osric arranges the fencing duel between Hamlet and Laertes
29. The duel
30. The final death of Hamlet

Tags:classic audio books,william shakespeare,audio books

Othello, dating from 1602-1604, is the second in Shakespeare’s great sequence of four trgedies: Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth. It differs markedly from the others in its essentially domestic milieu - the story unfolds with suffocatingly close intensity, unrelieved by the religious or metaphysical context we expect to find in Shakespearean tragedy.

Now you can listen to 3 hours (Unabridged) classic drama, download Othello

Tags:Othello,William Shakespeare,classic literature. audiobooks

King Lear, perhaps Shakespeare’s most profoundly searching and disturbing tragedy, is the story of a foolish and self-indulgent king who learns, late in life and after terrible suffering, the value of self-knowledge. The play asks the ancient questions about God and the meaning of pain with uncompromising directness, but provides no reassuring answers…

King Lear, probably dating from 1605, was first printed in a quarto version in 1608 and in a different form in the First Folio of 1623. It is the third In Shakespeare’s great sequence of four tragedies: Hamlet (1600-01) and Othello (1602-1604) precede it, and Macbeth (1606) follows. It possesses the widest emotional and thematic reach of them all, occupying a space which achieves an almost abstract, symbolic quality while at the same time offering a painful concreteness of experience: it is both intensely personal and impressively universal, tackling the great questions of suffering and morality (’is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?’) within the context of a social conscience CO! I have ta’en too little care of this’) and an anguished questioning of God (or the gods, who, it seems, ‘kill us for their sport’).

Tags:King Lear,Shakespeare,audiobooks

As You Like It is quintessential Shakespearean comedy, complete with a loquacious clown, lovers, disguises, rifts and reconciliations, and all within the atmospheric confines of the enchanted Forest of Arden. As the title suggests, As You Like It is a play in which everyone gets their way, where sinners are redeemed and where love holds sway over all. And because it is Shakespeare, even so light a comedy contains a wealth of keen observations about humanity in general, and in particular about the age-old tension between so-called civilized society and the state of nature from which it evolved. No less poetically-accomplished than Shakespeare’s more serious works, As You Like It is a stimulating literary pleasure from start to finish.

Tags:comedy Shakespeare,As You Like It,William Shakespeare