The Shakespeare authorship question is the idea that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the plays and poems that are credited to him. People who believe this are called anti-Stratfordians. They think Shakespeare of Stratford was not the real author but instead helped hide the identity of the true writer. This is because the real author may have had reasons, such as social rank, government secrecy, or gender, that prevented them from being publicly recognized. While this idea has interested many people, most scholars and literary historians do not believe it is correct. They consider it a theory that is not widely accepted and often address it only to explain or dismiss the claims.
The idea that Shakespeare did not write his own works began in the middle of the 19th century. At that time, Shakespeare was already seen as one of the greatest writers in history. However, some people were confused by details of his life, such as his modest background and lack of fame during his time. These details seemed to contradict the belief that he was a genius. This led to questions about whether he could have written the works that are now attributed to him. Over time, this debate has created a large amount of written material, and more than 80 people have been suggested as possible authors. The most well-known candidates include Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe, and William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby.
Supporters of these other candidates argue that they are more likely to have written the works. They claim that Shakespeare did not have the education, noble background, or knowledge of the royal court that they believe is shown in the writings. Scholars who have studied this issue say that using a person’s life story to determine who wrote a book is not reliable. They also point to evidence such as book titles, statements from other writers and historians of the time, and official records. This evidence supports the idea that Shakespeare wrote the works. No such clear evidence exists for any other candidate. Additionally, the question of Shakespeare’s authorship was not raised during his lifetime or for many years after he died.
Although most scholars agree that Shakespeare wrote the works, a small but visible group of people, including some well-known individuals, continue to question this. They believe the authorship issue should be studied more seriously and that one of the proposed candidates might be the real author.
Overview
The arguments made by people who doubt William Shakespeare wrote his own works share some common ideas. These people claim Shakespeare did not write the plays and often suggest someone else was the real author. They usually believe a secret plan kept the true writer's identity hidden, which they say explains why there is no clear proof about their chosen person and why historical records support Shakespeare's authorship.
Many of these doubters say Shakespeare's works show a deep understanding of many subjects, such as foreign languages, geography, and the customs of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts. They argue that only someone very educated or connected to the royal court could have written them. However, most information about Shakespeare's life comes from simple records, like his birth, marriage, and death dates, tax records, legal cases, and property deals. There is no proof he received formal schooling or owned books. No personal letters or original writings by Shakespeare from Stratford have survived. To those who question his authorship, these missing details make Shakespeare seem very different from the writer and poet described in his works. Some famous people, such as Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Henry James, Sigmund Freud, John Paul Stevens, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Charlie Chaplin, have supported these doubts, and their opinions are often used in arguments against Shakespeare's authorship. At the heart of this debate is what kind of evidence is considered strong enough to prove who wrote a work. Those who doubt Shakespeare rely on what is called "accumulating indirect evidence," such as similarities between characters and events in the plays and the lives of their preferred candidates, comparisons to other works by these candidates, and hidden messages or codes in writings from Shakespeare's time.
In contrast, scholars who study Shakespeare and literary history mainly use direct proof, such as official records on book titles, government documents like the Stationers' Register and the Accounts of the Revels Office, and statements from people who lived during Shakespeare's time, including poets, historians, actors, and other writers who worked with him. They also use modern computer analysis of writing styles. Missing information is explained by the fact that many documents from that time have not survived. Scholars say all these pieces of evidence together confirm that William Shakespeare wrote his own works. These standards are the same as those used to credit works to other authors and are widely accepted as the correct method for proving who wrote a piece of writing.
Case against Shakespeare's authorship
Not much is known about Shakespeare's personal life or education, and some people who disagree with the idea that he was from Stratford-upon-Avon use this lack of information as a reason to question whether he wrote the plays. Others believe that the absence of details about his life might mean that government officials intentionally hid evidence, such as school records, to keep his true identity secret.
Shakespeare was born, raised, and buried in Stratford-upon-Avon, a town near London with about 1,500 people. Stratford was known for raising and selling sheep, making leather, and trading wool. Some people who doubt Shakespeare's connection to Stratford argue that the town was not a place where a genius could grow up and that Shakespeare was not educated or literate.
Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, was a glove-maker and a local official. He married Mary Arden, a member of a wealthy local family. Neither John nor Mary signed their names with writing, and no examples of their handwriting remain. This is sometimes used to suggest that Shakespeare’s family was not literate. There is also no proof that Shakespeare’s two daughters could read or write, except for two signatures by his daughter Susanna, which appear to be drawn rather than written. His other daughter, Judith, signed a legal document with a mark. People who doubt Shakespeare’s authorship use these marks and simple signatures as evidence that he was not educated, even though his plays show characters who write and read letters.
Some people argue that Shakespeare’s background does not match the knowledge shown in the plays and poems. The works include details about royal life, foreign countries, and aristocratic activities like hunting and tennis. Others say the plays rarely show sympathy for people like Shakespeare’s father or his son and often make common people seem foolish or dangerous.
There is no written proof that Shakespeare received formal education, which some people use to question his authorship. A school called the King’s New School in Stratford, established in 1553, was close to Shakespeare’s home. Grammar schools during that time taught Latin, history, and writing, but no records exist about what was taught in Stratford. No student lists from that time survive, so there is no proof that Shakespeare attended the school or that anyone who taught or studied there knew him. This lack of records is used by some to claim that Shakespeare had little or no education.
People who doubt Shakespeare’s authorship also question how someone without a formal education or cultural background could have written works with such a large vocabulary. The plays and poems use between 17,500 and 29,000 different words. No letters or manuscripts written by Shakespeare survive. His six known signatures are described as simple and not well-formed, which some say shows he was not literate. These signatures were written in a common style of handwriting called secretary hand, and some used shortened forms of his name.
Shakespeare’s name was spelled differently in various documents, and he did not always write it the same way as it appears on book covers. This is used by some to suggest that he was not the same person who wrote the plays and that the name was a fake used by the real author.
On some book covers, Shakespeare’s name was written with a hyphen, like “Shake-speare” or “Shak-spear.” This happened most often on the covers of plays like Richard II, Richard III, and Henry IV, Part 1. Some people argue that the hyphen suggests the name was a pseudonym, as other fictional names in plays were also hyphenated.
Some theories suggest that people with high social status, like aristocrats, used pseudonyms to avoid embarrassment if they wrote publicly. Commoners might have used fake names to avoid punishment for writing about political ideas.
People who doubt Shakespeare’s authorship claim that no documents prove he was a writer. Instead, they believe he was a businessman and investor who became involved in theater through money-lending and owning property. They argue that any recognition he received in London was due to his wealth, not his writing. They also believe that evidence of his writing career was made up to hide the real author’s identity.
Some theories about who wrote Shakespeare’s works say that references to him as a playwright in historical records do not mean he was the real writer. They suggest that characters in plays and poems, like a foolish poet named Gullio, might be based on Shakespeare, implying that he was not the true author. Praises of Shakespeare in books like the First Folio are sometimes said to refer to the real author’s fake name, not the man from Stratford.
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, in Stratford. He left a will that did not mention any books, poems, or plays. It did, however, include instructions to give money to fellow actors to buy mourning rings.
There is no record of people mourning Shakespeare’s death publicly, and no poems or speeches about him were published until seven years later, when the First Folio of his plays was released.
Some people believe that the phrase “our ever-living Poet” in historical writings refers to the real author of Shakespeare’s works, not the man from Stratford.
Case for Shakespeare's authorship
Most scholars who study Shakespeare believe that the person known as "Shakespeare" was the same William Shakespeare who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and who died there in 1616. He worked as an actor and a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a group of actors later called the King's Men. This group owned the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars Theatre and had the right to perform Shakespeare's plays from 1594 to 1642. After 1596, Shakespeare was allowed to use the title "gentleman" because his father was given a special symbol called a coat of arms.
Scholars who study Shakespeare do not think the name "Shakespeare" was a fake name or that someone else wrote the plays while pretending to be Shakespeare. Records from Shakespeare's time show he was the writer. Other writers of the time, like Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe, had similar backgrounds. No one from Shakespeare's time is known to have doubted that he wrote his own plays. While some details about Shakespeare's life are unclear, this is also true for many other writers of the same era. Some writers, like Jonson and Marlowe, are better known because of their education, connections to the royal court, or legal problems.
Scholars who study literature use the same methods to determine who wrote Shakespeare's works as they use for other writers of the time. These methods include looking at historical records and studying writing styles. Scholars say that the idea that there is no proof Shakespeare wrote his own plays is a mistake called "argument from silence," because it assumes that the lack of evidence means there is no evidence. They criticize the ways some people try to find other writers as the real author, saying these methods are not reliable. Scholars also say that the idea that Shakespeare wrote about himself in his plays is not accurate for the time period. This idea became common in the 19th century but was not used during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
Historical records clearly show that William Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays and poems in the Shakespeare canon. His name appears on the titles of poems and plays. At least 23 times during his life, others referred to him as a well-known writer. Some people from Shakespeare's time confirmed he was both a playwright and an actor. Official documents from the time prove that the man from Stratford was an actor using his own name.
In 1598, Francis Meres, a writer, listed Shakespeare as a playwright and poet in his book Palladis Tamia. He named 12 plays written by Shakespeare, including some that were not published in print until later. He also mentioned some plays that were published without an author's name before 1598. Meres also wrote that Shakespeare had written "sugared Sonnets" for his friends 11 years before the sonnets were published.
In Elizabethan England, William Shakespeare was allowed to use the title "gentleman" after his father's death in 1601 because his father had been given a coat of arms in 1596. This title was often shown with the word "Master" or "Mr." before his name. Many official and literary records from the time used this title to refer to Shakespeare, proving that the man from Stratford was the same person named as the author.
In 1600, official records from the Stationers' Company listed two plays as being written by "Mr. Shakespeare." In 1607, another record listed a play as being written by "Mr. William Shakespeare." This title appeared on the cover of the first published version of King Lear in 1608.
Shakespeare's social status was noted by his contemporaries. In 1611, John Davies of Hereford called him "Mr. William Shakespeare" in a poem. In 1614, Thomas Freeman called him "Master W. Shakespeare." In 1615, John Stow listed him as "M. Willi. Shake-speare gentleman."
After Shakespeare died, Ben Jonson, a famous poet, wrote a tribute to Shakespeare in the First Folio of 1623, calling him "Mr. William Shakespeare, gentleman." Other poets also referred to him as "Master William Shakespeare" in their tributes.
Both direct statements from people who knew Shakespeare and evidence of his personal connections to actors and playwrights support the idea that he wrote his own plays.
Sir George Buc, a government official who oversaw plays in England, noted in 1599 that Shakespeare had helped determine the author of an anonymous play. In 1607, he approved the publication of King Lear, stating it was written by "Master William Shakespeare."
In 1602, Ralph Brooke, a royal official, accused another official of giving the title of "gentleman" to 23 people who were not worthy of it. One of these people was Shakespeare's father, who had applied for the title 34 years earlier. The title was finally given in 1596 after Shakespeare's success. Brooke included a drawing of the Shakespeare family's coat of arms, labeled "Shakespear ye Player by Garter." The title was defended by Sir William Dethick and William Camden, who were important historians of the time. Camden, in a book published in 1605, listed Shakespeare as one of the most talented writers of his era.
History of the authorship question
After Shakespeare died, many people praised his work, but for about 150 years, he was not widely seen as the greatest writer in the world. People thought he was a skilled playwright and poet, but not the best of his time. After theaters reopened in 1660, plays by Beaumont and Fletcher were more popular than Shakespeare's. Ben Jonson's plays were next in popularity. In 1769, an actor named David Garrick organized a celebration called the Shakespeare Stratford Jubilee, which helped raise Shakespeare's reputation. During this time, no one suggested that someone else might have written Shakespeare's works, except for a few minor jokes or stories. The idea that Shakespeare might not have written his own plays only appeared later, after he was seen as a great national poet.
By the early 1800s, people began to praise Shakespeare greatly, calling him a genius. George Bernard Shaw later named this extreme admiration "bardolatry." By the middle of the 1800s, people admired Shakespeare not only for his creativity but also for his intelligence. At first, scholars thought the English Renaissance was led by kings, nobles, and educated poets. This made it hard to believe that someone from a humble background, like Shakespeare, could have written such great works. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who believed Shakespeare wrote the plays, once said he struggled to imagine Shakespeare as a happy actor and theater manager, not just a writer. The rise of historical criticism, which questioned the authorship of Homer's works and the truth of the Bible, also made people wonder about Shakespeare's authorship. David Strauss's book about Jesus, which doubted the accuracy of the Bible, influenced debates about Shakespeare. In 1848, a man named Samuel Mosheim Schmucker tried to prove Shakespeare was real by using the same methods Strauss used to question the Bible. Schmucker never doubted Shakespeare was the author but unknowingly prepared arguments later used by people who claimed others wrote Shakespeare's plays.
Shakespeare's authorship was first openly questioned in 1848 in a book called The Romance of Yachting by Joseph C. Hart. Hart claimed the plays had clues that many authors worked on them. In 1852, a man named Robert W. Jameson anonymously wrote an article in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal with similar ideas. In 1856, Delia Bacon, an Ohio-born woman, wrote an article in Putnam's Magazine suggesting Shakespeare's plays were written by a group led by Sir Francis Bacon, with Walter Raleigh as the main writer. She believed Shakespeare could not have written the plays because his success in business made it unlikely he would focus on serious political and philosophical ideas. She also claimed Shakespeare would have published his plays during retirement, but he did not.
In 1856, William Henry Smith published a pamphlet asking if Sir Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. The next year, Delia Bacon published a book explaining her theory. In 1866, Nathaniel Holmes wrote a 600-page book supporting Smith's idea, and the theory became more popular. By 1884, over 250 books had been written about Shakespeare's authorship. Smith claimed the "Baconians" had almost won a 30-year battle against the idea that Shakespeare wrote his own plays. In 1886, the Francis Bacon Society was formed in England to promote the theory. The society still exists today and publishes a journal called Baconiana.
Academics criticized these theories. In 1857, George Henry Townsend wrote a book called William Shakespeare Not an Impostor, arguing that early critics of Shakespeare's authorship used poor research and incorrect evidence.
In 1853, Delia Bacon, with help from Ralph Waldo Emerson, traveled to England to find proof of her theory. Instead of looking through archives, she searched for hidden manuscripts and even tried to open Sir Francis Bacon's tomb. She believed letters from Bacon told her to look under Shakespeare's grave in Stratford for proof. She spent nights in a church trying to find the courage to dig but left without finding anything.
Ciphers, or secret codes, became important in the Baconian theory. Books like The Great Cryptogram (1888) by Ignatius L. Donnelly promoted this idea. Orville Ward Owen created a "cipher wheel," a large canvas strip with Shakespeare's works and other writings, to help find hidden messages. In his book Sir Francis Bacon's Cipher Story (1893), Owen claimed to find Bacon's autobiography in Shakespeare's plays, including the idea that Bacon was Queen Elizabeth's secret son.
Because Sir Francis Bacon was a lawyer, some people tried to use mock or real court trials to prove he wrote Shakespeare's plays. In 1892–93, a mock trial lasted 15 months, with 25 people, including Henry George and Henry Irving, deciding Shakespeare was the real author. In 1916, a real trial in Chicago involved a film producer suing a Baconian supporter, George Fabyan. A judge initially ruled in favor of Fabyan but later changed his decision.
In 1907, Owen claimed he found instructions in a cipher saying a box with proof of Bacon's authorship was buried in the River Wye. His equipment failed to find it. That same year, Elizabeth Wells Gallup, with help from George Fabyan, traveled to England, believing a cipher revealed Bacon's manuscripts were hidden in a tower in London. She found nothing. In 1909, Mark Twain, an American writer, publicly shared his long-held belief that Shakespeare was not from Stratford.
Alternative candidates
More than 80 people have been suggested as the real writer of Shakespeare’s plays at different times. However, only a few of these suggestions have received much attention. Some theories claim one person wrote the plays, while others suggest a group of people worked together.
Group theories about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays began in the mid-1800s. In 1857, Delia Bacon wrote a book called The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded. She proposed that a group of disappointed politicians, including Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Bacon, and possibly Edmund Spenser, Lord Buckhurst, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays.
In 1931, Gilbert Slater wrote The Seven Shakespeares, suggesting seven people wrote the plays: Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, and Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland. In the 1960s, Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon, Roger Manners, William Herbert, and Mary Sidney were proposed as members of a group called “The Oxford Syndicate.” Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Nashe were also linked to group theories. Some versions of these theories say William Shakespeare of Stratford was the group’s manager or public face.
In the 1800s, Sir Francis Bacon was a top candidate for writing Shakespeare’s plays. Bacon was a lawyer, philosopher, and scientist. Supporters of Bacon argue that similarities between his writings and Shakespeare’s plays, along with possible hidden messages, support his authorship. William Henry Smith suggested Bacon was the sole writer in 1856, while Delia Bacon proposed he was part of a group in 1857. She believed the plays contained hidden political ideas. Later supporters found many phrases in Shakespeare’s works that matched those in Bacon’s writings.
Bacon became Queen’s Counsel in 1596 and Attorney General in 1613. He was not known to have written plays, only some religious poems. Some believed he used secret codes in Shakespeare’s works to reveal his authorship. In the late 1800s, people claimed to find hidden messages in the plays, including an anagram in Love’s Labour’s Lost that read “These plays, the offspring of F. Bacon, are preserved for the world.”
Since the 1920s, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, has been the most popular alternative candidate. Oxford was a patron of actors and musicians and was praised as a poet. Many works were dedicated to him, and he owned a theater. Supporters of Oxford believe his life experiences, connections to the theater, and similarities between his writings and Shakespeare’s plays support his authorship.
In 1920, J. Thomas Looney, an English teacher, argued that Shakespeare’s works show the traits of an aristocratic poet who traveled widely. He noticed similarities between Oxford’s poetry and Shakespeare’s plays, leading him to believe Oxford was the real author. After Looney’s book Shakespeare Identified was published, Oxford became the most popular alternative candidate.
Some believe Oxford used the name “Shakespeare” because aristocrats were not expected to write plays for the public. Others think Oxford was Queen Elizabeth I’s lover and wrote the plays to honor their child, the Earl of Southampton. Supporters of Oxford also say the dedication of the 1609 sonnets suggests the author was dead before they were published, which could support Oxford’s case.
In fiction
The question of who wrote Shakespeare's plays has appeared in many types of fiction. One early example is Zeigler's 1895 novel It Was Marlowe: A Story of the Secret of Three Centuries. Other examples include the 2011 Oxfordian film Anonymous, Amy Freed's 2001 play The Beard of Avon, Ben Elton's 2016 sitcom Upstart Crow, and the 2020 fantasy comic book The Dreaming: Waking Hours, which is based on the works of Neil Gaiman. Modern novels that address this topic include Gordon Korman's 2018 children's book WhatsHisFace and Jodi Picoult's 2024 novel By Any Other Name.