Did He or Didn't He? That Is The Question!

What if you were hailed as one of the greatest writers of the world? Then what would you do if lots of people said you never wrote any of those works? Believe it or not, William Shakespeare is the only writer whose authorship has ever been called into question. As a result, the subject of who really wrote all those plays and sonnets has produced one of the longest running and furious debates on record. So what exactly is all the fuss about?

The controversy over who is the real author dates back almost two centuries. Those that don't believe Shakespeare is the true author refer to themselves as Anti-Stratfordians, or Oxfordians. Those that do believe that Shakespeare is the real author often refer to themselves as Stratfordians. In either case, both groups have amassed mounds of evidence to support their claims.

Some Anti-Stratfordians believe that Shakespeare was a pseudonym (or pen name) for the real author. Otherwise, most Anti-Stratfordians almost never refer to Shakespeare by name, instead calling him the "Stratford Man," "Shaxper," or "Shagsber." They hope to one day successfully discover the real identity of the real author, so that that person will be rightfully recognized as the creator of some fo the world's greatest literature. Some of the world's leading writers and thinkers have counted themselves among the doubters. They included Charles Dickens, Sigmund Freud, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain.

The Anti-Stratfordians have based their claims on several historical arguments, from the fact that Shakespeare would not have had the necessary education or background to write the plays, to analysing his signature, which was called by several critics as "illiterate." At one point, many Anti-Stratfordians studied ciphers and Cryptograms in an attempt to uncover the identity of the real "Shakespeare." By reading Shakespeare's plays in a particular way, they believed secret messages could be found that revealed the identity of the real author. Even the Shakespeare Monument in Stratford-Upon-Avon has been the subject of debate by both groups. Anti-Stratfordians believe that the current monument is an "imposter." They argue that the original monument depicted Shakespeare holding a sack instead of a pen!

So who do the Anti-Stratfordians think wrote all those plays? Even within the group, everyone has their favorite. Some of these candidates include the English philospher and writer, Sir Francis Bacon, English playwright Christopher Marlowe, and even Queen Elizabeth I! But currently the favorite seems to be a 16th-century poet, playwright, and nobleman, Edward De Vere, also known as the 17th Earl of Oxford. His supporters believe that unlike the "Stratford Man," de Vere had the necessary background in literature, and an intimate knowledge of Elizabeth I's court life that Shakespeare supposedly would have never known much about. Also, Edward de Vere's writings contain many similar words and phrases found in Shakespeare's works.

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