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SHAKESPEARE….THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED

The following article describes a unique solution to what Shakespeare scholars, students and fans, worldwide, continue to call the greatest detective story ever, namely who actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays?

The year 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. His writings have had an introduction into virtually every populated region of our planet and the complete works appear in over 30 languages and in 80 individual textbook titles. The authorship of the 37 plays and 154 sonnets attributed to him, remained in doubt until now.

This article claims that it is possible that Shakespeare’s plays were written by his mother: Mary Alden Shakespeare. This is her story and it is based on available information.

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616 at age 52. Both events took place in Stratford-on-Avon in England. At the time of William’s birth, his mother, Mary Arden was the daughter of a prosperous and prominent farmer while, his father, John was working as glove maker. John would eventually have many important public jobs, including alderman, bailiff, justice of the peace and village ale taster.

One reason for this authorship doubt is the continued absence of any record of William having gone to school. Of course, he could have been home tutored, but notably, he was and still is described as being uneducated, unsophisticated, unworldly and even unimaginative as a young man. If these descriptions are valid, they support the claim that Shakespeare had a ghostwriter for some, or even all, of his writings. On the other hand, even if he was schooled it does not necessarily follow that he would have been able to write Shakespeare quality plays or any plays at all.

Over the years, over 58 possible ghostwriters have, at various times, been mentioned. Yet, none of them had the following characteristics: 1) had a motive, 2) was broadly educated with the ability to write plays and poetry, 3) had a willingness to do research and write under Shakespeare’s name over a long period of time (20 years) and on a continuous basis (two plays per year), and without any acknowledgement. All of this, despite Shakespeare’s own growing fame and fortune as a playwright

Of the 58 possible ghostwriters, six continue to be considered, even though they did not meet the previously listed criteria. They are Christopher Marlow, William Stanley, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Roger Manners and Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. After 400 years of various claims, none of the past or contemporary supporters of these six possible ghostwriters has developed a strong enough case to prove that their particular candidate is the real author of William Shakespeare’s work.

At the opposite end of the argument, there is a group of Shakespearian fans who believe that, despite his possible shortcomings, William Shakespeare, after 400 years of searching, did indeed write all of the plays and sonnets and that he is to be given credit for all of his literary work. They are known as the Shakespeare Birthday Trust and it is, not surprisingly, located in Stratford-on-Avon in England. The Shakespeare doubters are named: The Shakespeare Authorship Coalition and they are located on the internet at: www.DoubtAboutWill.org. They have failed to answer the question: If not William Shakespeare then who? As an aside, there is also The Shakespeare Society in New York that promotes Shakespeare’s plays in schools and colleges, and the Folger Shakespeare Library In Washington, DC with its searchable collections of Shakespeare related literature, etc.

Given the lack of success, in finding the “real” Shakespeare, it seems clear that a new approach is required. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in the way people look at the Shakespeare authorship. Various Shakespeare experts are noting an acutely feminine sensibility in Shakespeare’s writings. For example, Tina Packer in her book “Women of Will,” published in 2015, states that: “Shakespeare writes the woman as if he were a woman, given their desires, needs, ambition, insights, feelings, intuition and gestation.” In her book “Sweet Swan of Avon: Did a Woman Write Shakespeare,” Robin Williams (not the actor), makes the case that the contemporaneous writer Mary Sidney was the real Shakespeare. The claim was dismissed! The argument that a woman wrote Shakespeare’s plays upheld. It may be a case of right claim, wrong woman.

The following quote from Wikipedia under the search key “women in Shakespeare’s works” notes, “women in Shakespeare’s plays have always had important roles, sometimes the leading role . . . they often surpass the male hero . . . Shakespeare realistically captured the essence of femininity . . . his women are the most attractive and also, in a sense, his most original creation. So different are they as a whole from the ideals of the feminine type prevalent in the literature of the day.” Jean de la Fontaine claimed “by the work one knows the workman.” Said another way, contemporary scholarship has posited that a woman created and voiced Shakespeare’s plays.

The questions are: Who is this mysterious woman writer and why did she anonymously write plays for Shakespeare over such a long period of time? The most logical person who meets all of the criteria of being his ghostwriter, is his mother, Mary Arden Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s parents, John and Mary, have never been on any list of possible ghostwriters because they were considered to be illiterate, a rumor that they themselves could have started and spread. On occasion, each used a symbol instead of a signature to sign their name. There were several instances for John and, on one known occasion for Mary. John used two crossed sticks, which are used in glove making, as his symbol signature and Mary used a running horse. Since they did not use regular signatures on these occasions they have both, through the ages, been considered as being illiterate and thereby unlikely candidates for writing anything. Therefore, neither parent was ever considered as being a possible ghostwriter for son William. Note: just because a person is capable of using sign language it does not necessarily mean that they are illiterate. Both Shakespeare’s might have benefited from the spreading of this rumor

The current opinion is that, given Johns and Mary’s backgrounds, exposures, jobs, positions, informal and implied education, they must have been literate. We need to keep in mind that not all learning takes place in a classroom. This was as true then as it is today.

William Shakespeare’s mother was born in 1540 as Mary Arden into a very prominent family in the county of Warwickshire, in which Stratford-on-Avon, William’s birthplace and eventual home, is located. Mary was able to trace her ancestry back further than the Norman conquests. Her family was granted land by William the Conqueror. One of Mary’s ancestors served at the court of King Henry VIII. Mary was the youngest of eight sisters. She also had two step sisters and two step brothers in her family. They were from her ther’s first wife. At age 16, she was became an executrix and heir to a significant portion of her father’s estate, indicating that he had confidence in her precocity and intellectual ability. It was at this time that only boys went to school. Women from affluent families were educated at home by private tutors. Given Mary’s upper-class background, and her family’s wealth and social status, it is most likely that she was home tutored. This educational claim is further validated by the fact that Mary was named executrix of a sizable estate at an early age

In gneral, upper class women of this era read a great deal in the bleak winter months. In addition, women that were privately tutored were also taught: reading, writing and arithmetic. Some of them learned to run their father’s business. A number were taught to read and write in a foreign language including Latin, French, Italian and Greek. These foreign languages would later appear in Shakespeare’s plays. In addition, women, in general, were allowed to write literary works for their own family and their friends’ amusement. Yet they could not write for the public stage. Some women did so anyway under assumed male names. Then, men as well as women could also have written plays anonymously.

Shakespeare’s father, John, was, among his other public jobs, the person in charge of the entertainment for the community of Stratford-on-Avon. The tasks included booking plays, minstrel shows and vaudeville-type acts. John’s work brought Mary and William into the orbit of public entertainment and helped them learn what makes it tick. When he was old enough he left home William would work as an actor, script editor, theater owner, producer and director.

By an interesting coincidence, the publisher Richard Field lived down the road from Shakespeare’s parents in Stratford-on-Avon, before he moved to London, where he became one of its leading booksellers and publishers. Putting two and two thoughts together, one has to assume that research and ideas for Shakespeare’s plays came from Mr. Field’s books, as well as the stories Mary had heard of her ancestors’ prominent roles in English history. It has been noted that Shakespeare’s historical references for the plays track with the inventory of Field’s books.

In 1592, John Shakespeare’s finances took a turn for the worse. He was in debt and because of this he and Mary were not seen in public. At this point, William is already in London working in the theater, first as a stagehand apprentice and then as an actor and producer. Also in 1592, William Shakespeare’s plays were starting to get published. Coincidentally, production on plays began when hard times hit his parents. As the popularity of the plays grew, the income from royalties began to increase, and simultaneously, so did John and Mary’s financial situation. The first three plays were published anonymously. The plays were not successful. This judgment might have been made because the plays were written by an unknown author.

Shakespeare’s plays featured fully realized female characters, highly individualized protagonists who often drove the action—rather than merely being acted upon. The coincidence of dates leads one to believe that Mary wrote, or helped write, the next plays for the royalties that were earned under William Shakespeare’s name. He had the ideal name recognition for producing and marketing the plays as he was already in “show business.” If royalties had been in either of the parents’ name, their creditors would have seized the profits.

Shortly before Mary died at age 71, in 1608, her son William was still publishing, under his name, plays at the rate of two new plays per year. Additional plays could have been begun, or even finished during this most intellectually fertile period. Thereby, creating an inventory of plays held back to ensure a steady flow of play production. These works could then have been tapped after Mary died, keeping the William Shakespeare authorship alive. It is widely known that John Fletcher assisted in the final plays that appeared after Mary’s death. The fact that William Shakespeare needed John Fletcher to complete his last two plays is telling. If the “real” Shakespeare did all the writing himself, then why would he possibly have needed help for these last, post-Mary, plays? Hadn’t he already successfully and rapidly churned out 35 brilliant plays all by himself, as the Shakespeare Birthday Trust claims? William died at age 52, in 1616. During the last three years of his life there were no more Shakespeare plays introduced. In his Will he bequeath the second best bed to his wife. The best bed was left vacant, possibly as a tribute to his mother who gave him life, fame, and fortune.

There was no paper trail kept of Shakespeare’s many writings so that their author (Mary ?)) could not be traced. The mystery has lasted for over 400 years. The answer could be with Ben Jonson the well known author and playwright who knew both Mary and William Shakespeare. He wrote an ode for the first Folio in 1623, which provides a possible clue as to the identity of the “real” Shakespeare.

The poem is titled: “To the memory of my Beloved, the author Mr. William Shakespeare and what he had left us.” The following is the segment of the ode that is most often quoted:

Sweet Swan of Avon! What a sight it were

To see thee in our waters yet appear.

And make these flights upon these banks of Thames,

That so did take our Eliza, and our James!

Since Mary Arden Shakespeare lived in Stratford-on-Avon for her entire married life, she could she have easily have been Jonson’s Sweet Swan of Avon, in addition, given the overall feminine nature of the poem including use of words such as Beloved, Sweet, and Swan , this could have been Jonson’s way of telling us who the real Shakespeare was. it was …Mary Shakespeare. Eliza was Queen Elizabeth and James was King James.

In addition, the non - interchangeable use of the names “William Shakespeare” and “The Author William Shakespeare” leads one to believe that there are two different Shakespeare’s, with the person with the “Author” name referring to Mary.

Interestingly, in the early English dictionaries, “pen” is the word for female Swan, this is derived from the middle English penne or pennen. It also means feather or quill. As a (double meaning) saying (swan) (pen) quill – writer is an illusion to “Shakespeare” being a lovely female writer…. A Sweet Swan….Mary?

In summary, the question is, did “William Shakespeare” indeed write all of the plays attributed to him, or has that credit been given to the wrong Shakespeare? Is it Mary, not William, who, beyond her role as house wife and mother, should get some, or all, the credit for the brilliance of the plays? The latest scholarship notes that Shakespeare’s plays have a woman’s voice and female characters highly unusual for the age.

This brief article presents the theory that William Shakespeare’s mother, Mary had the time, motivation, education, talent and opportunity to have been William Shakespeare’s ghostwriter. She, if not one of the greatest writers that the world has ever known she was at the least, the prominent voice behind the author. Four cheers for Mary Arden Shakespeare. She did it! She gave us Shakespeare—the man and her words.

In closing, we should not forget the economics of Shakespeare. The plays have been earning millions and millions of dollars, in today’s dollar equivalent over the past 400 years, to pay for producers, directors, actors and theatre owners and employees, professors, school teachers, writers, and bookstores, to provide entertainment for the masses. The plays have become, in effect, a timeless money/entertainment and money machine.

Another four cheers for both Mary and William for being the theatre’s greatest wealth creators, both financial and cultural.

In the final analysis, a Shakespeare did write Shakespeare.

This Case is closed!

Richie Herink, PhD is the author of “The Psychotherapy Handbook”, “The Car Is Architecture”, and “Statistics Made Learnable”. He also holds three patents.

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