Shakespeare Conspiracy Theory

Romeo and Juliet. The Tempest. Macbeth. All three of these plays are easily identifiable as Shakespearean plays. In the famous play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare poses the question of “What is in a Name?”. Knowing the name behind a particular story or idea can change the way that you view it, which is why it is so crucial to understand who was really behind Shakespeare’s plays. Going back as early as the 19th century, historians began to doubt whether Shakespeare was the true author of the plays. At first, this idea was dismissed as another crazy conspiracy theory, but today, this theory is known as the Shakespeare Question. There are two main sides to the Shakespeare debate: the Stratfordians and the Anti-Stratfordians. Stratfordians believe

It has been agreed upon between both sides that the Shakespeare of Stratford went to grammar school- the equivalent of elementary school if you live in America- but that is where the disagreements start. According to Simon Schama, Stratfordians believe that Shakespeare possessed the capability to write his extraordinary plays because he studied works of classic literature written by authors such as Cicero, Virgil, and Plutarch. Since Stratfordians believe that ”most of his plays were adapted from earlier works,” he could have been creative enough to write all of the works in his name (Farouky, 2). On the other hand, the Anti-Stratfordians say that there is no proof that the Shakespeare of Stratford was even literate, as there are only 6 surviving copies of signature, all of which are almost illegible (Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship,1). Some of these signatures are even spelled differently than the rest. According to the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, there is also evidence that Shakespeare of Stratford did not educate his daughters, as both of them were