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Cory Vandernet
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 4:23am | IP Logged | 1
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Shaxper's will brings up so many questions.
The 3 page will was prepared by Shaxper's lawyer Francis Collins' clerk, at least 3 different hands put pen to paper on this will, one can imagine that Shaxper was asked to look over the draft for corrections and permission to proceed to a final draft, (there is an 11 page will in existence) the ring bequest probably added at this time. At the bottom of the first 2 pages Shaxper apparently signed his approval, before signing the 3rd page.
Considering that in the preamble Shaxper claimed to be 'in perfect health', but each signature is different, it even appears that Francis Collins, who witnessed the bottom of the 3rd page, went so far as to help Shaxper out and wrote ' By me William ' so that Shaxper could tough out his last name.
Why is the greatest writer of all time who is in perfect health struggling to sign his own name? Was he semi-literate? There only 6 examples of Shaxper's signature that I know of and none of them look alike.
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Steven Brake
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 4:44am | IP Logged | 2
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@Cory: This is where alternative authorship theories over-play their argument.If Shakespeare, or Shaxper, or however you'd prefer to spell the variant of his surname, was believed to have been a dramatist by people who'd known him, like Heminges, Condell, Burbage, etc, he must have been literate. Otherwise the illusion that he was the playwright fails right away.
We know that Shakespeare was an actor. Either he read his lines to learn them, so he was literate, or he learned them by having his fellow actors read them out during rehearsals. Did none of them think it odd that the fellow who wrote such wonderful lines for them couldn't read the work of others?
I don't read music, or play any instruments. If I claimed to have written several operas, every who knows me would be confused, sceptical, or outright vocal in their disbelief.
I can't draw. If I claimed to be a brilliant artist, the truth would soon out (see Walter Keane).
I can't sing. If I claimed to be the vocalist on several single or albums, I'll eventually be exposed (see Milli Vanilli).
Edited by Steven Brake on 24 January 2021 at 1:56pm
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Mark Haslett
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | 3
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Steven: And what's the argument here? That Burbage and Heminges, or their cohorts, altered Shakespeare's will to create the illusion that they knew him? And having determined to alter the will, they decided to award themselves a pretty small bequest rather than anything more substantial?
**
Or maybe the obvious: That the will leaving rings to these men was, at best, an after-thought and that such, coming from the greateest writer of all time, is the opposite of proof of Authorship.
This candidate for Authorship has written a will that in no way conforms with the mind and accomplishments reflected in the works.There are rings for two people connected to the theater, but paragraphs of bile and clumsy prose for the disposition of every penny. Not one penny to the arts. Not one penny to anyone's education. Many peculiarities, but none to indicate the mind of a writer at work.
Edited by Mark Haslett on 24 January 2021 at 2:43pm
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Steven Brake
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 3:27pm | IP Logged | 4
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How does this undermine Shakespeare as the author? His will affirms his relationship with Burbage and Heminges. And, as people who'd known him, they didn't doubt that he was the author.
And it's a bit disingenuous to say that Burbage was simply "connected to the theatre"! He was one of the most acclaimed actors of the age. And he didn't doubt that William Shakespeare was the author of so many of the plays that Burbage starred in.
Speculation here, but perhaps it was Burbage and Heminges who originally conceived the notion of collecting their old friends work in a folio, with Condell succeeding Burbage after he died in 1619?
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Mark Haslett
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 4:27pm | IP Logged | 5
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Steven: How does this undermine Shakespeare as the author?
**
How does the fact that the only biographical document in Shaxper's life contains no reference to writing or the theater undermine his candidacy for Authorship?
Because the only remotely connected item is added as an after-thought. As if the plays were a small part of his life.
All of this fits Shaxper the opportunist. None of this fits Shakespeare the Author.
Plus the fact that it reads like it was written by an illiterate.
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Steven Brake
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | 6
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@Mark: Shakespeare's will makes specific reference to Burbage and Heminges. Burbage was renowned as one of the greatest actors of his age. He was part of The King's Men, and, before them The Lord Strange's Men. Heminges and Shakespeare were also members of both companies.
Heminges (as I've suggested above, possibly initially working with Burbage - this is probably not provable speculation) and Condell (also a member of the King's Men, and possibly a member of the Lord Strange's men - I'm not sure) collected the plays that became the First Folio to commemorate the member of the man they had known. When the First Folio was published, it was prefaced by Ben Jonson, who praised the writing of Mr William Shakespeare, whom he had also known.
How on Earth is this "opportunism" on Shakespeare's part?
Edited by Steven Brake on 24 January 2021 at 5:00pm
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Mark Haslett
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | 7
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You misunderstand me.
I mean this is how an opportunist would consider the works at the end of his life - as nothing.
There is some mystery, is there not? Why doesn't Shaxper's will contain anything consistent with his station as the most successful author of his age?
The mystery disappears if he was as an opportunist who became associated with plays he did not write.
In this light, a single elliptical reference to theater fits perfectly.
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Cory Vandernet
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 9:16pm | IP Logged | 8
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Much is made of that Shaxper was only Grammar School educated (of which there is no evidence) and he was essentially self-taught. If that is the case, where is his personal library? The will makes no mention of any books, the will makes no allowances, books were very expensive in those days.
Why aren't the Shakespeare plays mentioned in the will? Roughly half the plays in the official folio had yet to have been published. Manuscripts or copies of plays are not mentioned. Where are they?
If Shaxper was truly the author of the Shakespeare plays, he would have been very mindful of them, they were his legacy to his family and the world, but they were not even worth a mention.
Edited by Cory Vandernet on 24 January 2021 at 9:20pm
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Matthew Chartrand
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| Posted: 24 January 2021 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | 9
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Did something like copywrite exist then? Could the ownership of the written word be passed on in a will?
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Mark Haslett
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| Posted: 25 January 2021 at 3:59am | IP Logged | 10
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The way to protect work was to get it published.
Shaxper did not go through any such effort.
The record is clear on that-- whether Shaxper was the author or not, he never did a thing to protect the revenue generated by his plays by having them published.
But he did sue a man for 6 pounds.
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John Byrne
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Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 25 January 2021 at 6:57am | IP Logged | 11
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The biggest argument against the Stratford Man is the man himself. What we know of him--actually know, stripped of Shakespearean fantasy--does not paint a picture of someone we would expect to produced the Work.
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Petter Myhr Ness
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| Posted: 25 January 2021 at 9:17am | IP Logged | 12
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Isn't it a paradox that we know so much about Shaxper the man - much more than we do about contemporaries like Kit Marlowe - yet there's virtually nothing left behind that connects him with the actual art of writing? While Marlowe and most other contemporaries left behind solid literary paper trails.
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