Alternate Author Conspiracy

The Beginning:
Everyone has read or at least heard of the great works by William Shakespeare. Born in 16th century England, Shakespeare is renowned for his plays and widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. Over the span of 25 years he crafted 37 plays still being put on today, with Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth being some of his most notable. However, there is a small problem; a lack of solid documentation of Shakespeare’s life, a lack that has led many people to question his legitimacy as an author. So, a theory arose: William Shakespeare didn’t write any of the plays or sonnets credited to his name, more fondly known as the alternate author theory. According to the Journal of Philosophy: of Conspiracy Theories, there are two types of conspiracy theories, warranted and unwarranted. They are categorized this way based on what warrants our belief and what doesn’t and almost any theory can be sorted into one to the two. Based on the criteria listed in the Journal, this theory is unwarranted. I believe that while it is possible that someone else wrote Shakespeare’s works, it is not a theory that warrants the publics belief.

A Little Background and Explanation:
To begin this argument of legitimacy, the history and so called “facts” of the theory should be presented first. It is generally accepted by most scholars and the public alike that Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, worked as an actor in London for a while, and then returned back to his hometown until his death in 1616. The only problem however is, there is little to no documentation on his life. There are records of his marriage to wife Anne Hathaway, of the birth of their children, a will, and some business papers. None related to his writing though, not a single documentation of his ownership of the 154 sonnets and 37 plays attributed to him. Shakespeare’s upbringing and education also lead to questions of his ability to have authored so many works. When Shakespeare’s parents were married, they signed their names with only a mark and no other proof of their writing can be found, leading many to believe they were illiterate and raised Shakespeare to be so as well. Any evidence of his children’s literacy is shown in their signature as well, which is also just a mark. There is also no documentation of Shakespeare ever attending school, where he would have learned the basic reading and writing skills necessary to compose these plays and sonnets. There is also the culture and social standing of the town he grew up in. Stratford-upon-Avon was a town that survived on slaughter, marketing, and distribution of sheep, and really did not have much else to offer economically. Many members of the town were illiterate and held common farming or craftsmanship jobs. The town itself and the people in general were lower in social standing. Shakespeare’s works show a complex understanding of politics and foreign affairs and a love for aristocratic activities like hunting, tennis, and falconry, all things that would not have occurred in his small hometown. His works also disfavor the people trying to move up the “social ladder” and ridicule those portrayed as commoners, the people that his own family and neighbors would have been. All of these things and the general lack of knowledge on Shakespeare’s life lend to the theory of there being a different author. But is a lack of evidence enough to support the legitimacy of a conspiracy theory?

What is a CT?
What exactly is a conspiracy theory? The journal of Philosophy describes a conspiracy theory as “a proposed explanation of some historical event in terms of the significant casual agency of a relatively small group of persons acting in secret”. So, the proposed explanation would be that all of Shakespeare’s works were written by someone else. The real author would be writing in secret due to gender, social standing, or another unknown reason. The journal of philosophy defines unwarranted conspiracy theories as “a class of explanation that can be distinguished analytically from those theories which deserve our dissent”. So basically, all conspiracy theories can be divided between what we should believe and pay attention to, and the ones we should completely dismiss. Kelly provides some criteria for unwarranted conspiracy theories (UCT’s) and all fit the alternate author theory. Firstly, that UCT’s theory opposes an already established explanation: someone other than Shakespeare wrote his works. Secondly that the intent behind the “truth” of the conspiracy should be nefarious and many believe whoever the alternate writer was stayed secret so he could openly ridicule people. The next being that they tie together unrelated events. Many people have tried to tie seemingly unrelated famous people at the time to be the real author of Shakespeare’s work. Then the belief that the truth is a well-guarded secret, which would explain away why there been no rea; proof to the Shakespeare theory. Lastly is the use of errant data, probably the element used most heavily in the alternate author argument.
These unwarranted conspiracy theories utilize errant data (data not found of connected to a theory until much later) to push their bias. They use facts and data completely unrelated to the theory as support, which makes them easy to believe but also completely false. The culture of the town Shakespeare grew up in, his lack of education, and lack of exposure to the elements he wrote about would be examples of this errant data. Assuming that someone’s intelligence and ability can be determined by their next-door neighbor and town is just simply incorrect and has been proven false time and time again. There would have been different ways for Shakespeare to gain knowledge that didn’t come from his town, and he lived in London for a large portion of his life. The only school in the town didn’t keep records of their students, so there never could have been any evidence of Shakespeare’s education or any of students in the first place. The argument that he didn’t attend any other higher form of education should be null too, considering many people did not gain an education past grammar school unless they were the wealthy elite. Shakespeare indeed wasn’t exposed to many aristocratic elements due to his “commoner” upbringing, but he could have easily studied up on them or heard about them. There are many aspects of the higher class that people don’t experience first-hand but are still able to write about them. This data, while accurate, is stretched and applied to this theory to make it more believable when it in fact lends no evidence to the conspiracy.
In the end it is possible that Shakespeare could have never really have written the pieces accredited to him, but there is simply no evidence to suggest he didn’t. His works are long beloved and there is enough credible evidence to assert that he did indeed author the 37 plays and 154 sonnets. This theory is also considered an unwarranted conspiracy, and according to the Journal of Philosophy shouldn’t hold any belief from the general public. This theory may never be truly debunked, and the identity of Shakespeare could still be argued for hundreds of years to come. But until Shakespeare is proven to be a false author it is important to remember this conspiracy theory, like many others, is just simply a theory and isn’t really the truth.

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