Who Wrote Hamlet?
Sevana Garibian
Mr. Beerman
AP English Literature and Composition
14 December 2015
“To thine own self be true”. As Polonius is stating this, he is providing advice for
his son, Laertes, reminding him of the importance of not straying from his true being.
This being written by William Shakespeare, it is an acceptable theory to presume that
Shakespeare himself would stay true to “thine own self”. Thus, regardless of the
circumstantial evidence that disproves Shakespeare’s authorship, he continues to be
credited as the sole author of the Shakespearean Canon. William Shakespeare is widely
known to be one of the greatest writers of all time, yet there lies controversy over who
stands behind the name. In recent years, there have been additional theoretical
possibilities proposed that point to other candidates. Major arguments against the William
Shakespeare from Stratford-Upon-Avon include his inferior middle class upbringing
which diverges from the phenomenal writings of the Shakespearean Canon. There is
deliberation that others, for instance the Edward de Vere, known as the aristocratic Earl
of Oxford, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, and Queen Elizabeth, are more likely to
be the authors behind the canon due to their well structured educational background and
certain life experiences that would relate to the plot of the stories. The belief is that these
individuals took on the pseudonym, William Shakespeare, in order to not merge their
higher positioning’s and the risky plays that were written. The Shakespeare from
Stratford-Upon-Avon, then, was used to simply put a face to the name. All the same,
William Shakespeare remains the most plausible selection as the author of the
Shakespearean Canon. His socio-economic background, mixed in with the circumstances
he endured during his lifetime and his acting experiences prove ample enough to justify
him as the source of the writings. He came from a middle class background, giving him
the opportunity to attract the eyes and ears of a larger audience. Along with his
background came the traumatic losses in his family that was evident in many of the plays
found in the canon. Additionally, Shakespeare’s experiences as an actor provide the skills
needed for his authorship. William Shakespeare is the author of the Shakespearean canon
because Shakespeare’s distinctive experiences gives insight on his personal life involving
his middle class upbringing and the tragedies suffered during the fatal losses he
experienced as a person, as well as the use of his own acting knowledge and abilities to
embody the original Hamlet and bring it to life.
William Shakespeare’s personal experiences as a middle class man paved the road
of the diverse and golden mean perspectives he presents in his multitude of storylines.
His background of middle class assisted him in communicating with the people belonging
to the aristocracy and the people belonging to the lower class. This mutual understanding
inspired Shakespeare’s use of mixed diction. His advanced terminology, known by the
nobility, was found alongside the common people’s language. Shakespeare’s writings
were not concentrated on solely entertaining the elite; rather, he gave the commonalty the
chance of pleasure as well. His upbringings provided him with the opportunity to larger
his scope and attract the audience of the upper and lower class. This is predominantly the
case in Hamlet. As Shakespeare lengthens and dramatizes his lines, the last two of each
paragraph simply summarizes all that occurred. Thus, Hamlet begins his third soliloquy
and states at the end, “the play's the thing / Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king”
(Shakespeare, II.II. 566-567). Throughout this lengthened soliloquy, Hamlet discusses his
cowardice and his new plan to kill the King. In these last two lines, the audience
belonging to the lower class, understood the newfound plot in the play. The lines prior
were for the theatrical presence in the play needed for the satisfaction of the aristocracy.
Together, with the diversities in the soliloquy, the audience was still left aware of the
situation and satisfied all the same. Shakespeare’s middle class upbringing allowed him
to take the two distinctly different lives and combine them, grasping the amusement and
attention of everyone in the theater.
As Shakespeare’s middle class upbringing formed the bridge of understanding
between the lower and upper classmen, the adequate education he obtained was also
consistent with the abilities and background needed for the making of the Shakespearean
Canon. One of the main factors contributing to the controversy of the true identity of
Shakespeare is his apparent lack of sufficient education. Many argue that his minimal
time in an educational facility would not have provided the needed knowledge and
expertise to complete such writings. However, as a child belonging to the working class,
the education he was presented with did correlate with the quality and style that the
Shakespearean writings contained. There are many sources that have found evidence of
William Shakespeare’s education and according to Stanley Wells, Shakespeare’s
grammar school “offered a humanist education centered on the classic, especially Latin
literature and rhetoric – Greek was taught mainly in the larger schools” (Wells,
Education, 2001). This, then, correctly coincides with the level of education needed and
the methodology of the Shakespearean Canon. This found knowledge of Shakespeare’s
education also opposes the common belief of his lack of schooling. Even with his minor
background in education, it is not considered impossible for Shakespeare to have
completed these works. The schooling he did receive was concerned with the Latin and
Greek language, and with the constant lessons of rhetoric, and thus, he would have
gathered the basic knowledge needed for the production of the Shakespearean Canon.
The argument defending Shakespeare’s educational level is provided by Alexa Stevenson
from the Penn State News, who stated, “But those who can't believe that a man with a
grammar-school education wrote these plays and poems overlook a sobering fact of
literary history: the inventors of modern English literature were overwhelmingly from the
working class” (Stevenson, 7). With this thought in mind, the assumption that William
Shakespeare’s middle class education prevented him from writing The Shakespearean
Canon is inaccurate. It is continued on by Stevenson to mention the poets Ben Johnson,
Edmund Spencer, and Christopher Marlowe all belonged to the middle class. The
common knowledge gained from the grammar school proved well sufficient for
Shakespeare and the rest of the working class poets. Therefore, his middle class
educational background involving languages of Latin and Greek proved to be effective
enough to allow Shakespeare to complete the Shakespearean Canon himself.
William Shakespeare’s ability to draw a commonality between his writings and
his experiences as a middle class man is similar to his ability to personalize the stories he
wrote with his own tragic circumstances. Shakespeare was known to have a son named
Hamnet, who sorrowfully died of an unknown illness at a young age. This death was
presumed to be of great effect on Shakespeare as it was evident in his writings, leading to
this standing as a tangible source for the darkness found some parts of the Shakespearean
canon. In some of his plays, like King Lear, the depth and the sorrow was felt as the lines
were read. Though the writings of Shakespeare directly after the death of his son may
have been seen as primarily comedic, there were a few of his plays, such as King John,
where the absence of a lost child is truly felt. Through his son’s death lies reason of the
dark tone of Hamlet and the non-coincidental play on the name Hamlet and Hamnet.
However, the most dramatic influence of his son’s death could be found in Shakespeare’s
writing of King John. According to Stephen Greenblatt, “In King John, probably written
in 1596 just after the boy was laid to rest, Shakespeare depicted a mother so frantic at the
loss of her son that she is driven to thoughts of suicide...When she is accused of
perversely insisting on her grief, she replies with an eloquent simplicity that breaks free
from the tangled plot: ‘Grief fills the room up of my absent child’” (Greenblatt, 5).
Shakespeare was deeply scarred by the death of his son and those feeling were exposed
with that single line. His only way of letting the mourning out for his son was through
plays, and this supports his authorship as lines similar to the one above, depict the role of
broken parent at a complete loss due to the death of their child. The mother in King John
was the embodiment of William Shakespeare. He channeled all the grief he faced into the
plays he wrote. The characters he created in his plays were to reflect upon his situation
concerning Hamnet. Shakespeare’s personal loss of a son altered a major part of him and
therefore, the stories he wrote, allowing there to be no hesitancy toward his authorship.
With the correlation between the death of Hamnet and the plays written by
William Shakespeare, there is also the parallelism of the death of fathers. In the year of
1601, the same year that Shakespeare is said to have written Hamlet, John Shakespeare,
William Shakespeare’s father, passed. The high regard and admiration Hamlet felt
towards his father in the play is presumably the ramification of John Shakespeare’s death.
This additionally allows Shakespeare’s background to be of evidence for the writings in
the canon. The perception of despair endured by a son who’s father just passed is fixed
into who Hamlet is. Throughout the entire play, the sense of hurt is evident, especially as
Hamlet states to his mother, “But I have that within which passeth show; / These but the
trappings and the suits of woe” (Shakespeare, I.II.85-86). The depth of loss from the
death of his father suggests there to be truth behind the words. Inscribed in the play is the
known fact that Hamlet believes his father to be a man of courage and respect, a true
martyr. The death of King Hamlet was undeserved in the eyes of Hamlet, as was the
death of John Shakespeare in the eyes of William. Shakespeare’s mourning of his own
father reflected upon the actions of Hamlet and the way the story was portrayed. The
effect of his father’s passing was detected in the other plays of the canon as well, as after
this the tone of Shakespeare’s writings was that of cynicism and conflict. According to
the findings of Karen Bamford, after her reading of the Fathers and Sons in Shakespeare:
The Debt Never Promised, “Tromly traces a pattern in which these sons either rescue
their fathers from death...or attempt to revenge the fathers after their deaths” (Bamford,
1). As an example, she discussed the character of Edgar in King Lear and his actions of
heroism towards his father. Shakespeare’s writings uncovered the emotions held within
him following his father’s death. The sadness that was confined in him influenced the
route Shakespeare took of building father and son relationships in his plays. The concept
of death is heavily concentrated on in plays like Hamlet, and the other writings after the
death of his father. This constant play on death mimics the death Shakespeare faced in his
own life. The sorrow and struggle rooted in Shakespeare was a catalyst for his writings,
which ultimately points him as the author.
Shakespeare’s personal losses were communicated through his plays remarkably,
and his successful acting background aided in this achievement. After the departure of
Shakespeare from society, he returned back into the acting scene, accompanying the lives
of playwrights. His ability to live amongst these authors forced him to become familiar
with their techniques, giving him the opportunity to take what he learned from them and
strive on his own. This familiarity towards acting and writing plays aided towards his
ultimate peak, as he saw what it takes to become a playwright and the ways in which to
make it successfully. As Shakespeare involved himself more with these playwrights, he
began to evolve into his own self and graduate to a style everyone can identify as
Shakespearean. His background as an influential actor and playwright was noted in
Hamlet, when the players arrived. Hamlet began to give his personal advice on what a
player should do and starting by saying, “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it
to you, trippingly on the tongue” (III.II.190-191). He continues on and states to avoid the
“whirlwind of passion” (III.II.195) as that only ruins the play and so on. Shakespeare’s
understanding of the way acting should be done is clearly evident in the way Hamlet is
providing such confident advice to the players. Only an actor would be able to
comprehend the importance of the right kind of performance, as only a playwright with
acting abilities would be able to so greatly write a play within a play. Shakespeare’s
background provides him with the opportunity to be able to impose direction upon actors.
The factor that directly associates himself with the Shakespearean Canon is, which is
noted by Irvin Matus a scholar at the Atlantic Monthly, that “What the authorship
partisans have failed to demonstrate is how any of their candidates had the intimate
knowledge and experience of theater and drama to create plays that remain the standard
by which all other stage works are measured” (Matus, 25). The experience he obtained
during his duration as an actor in theater is an essential factor of Shakespeare’s writings.
Thus, his participation in acting pose as an additional advantage towards his abilities of
being the author of the Shakespearean Canon.
Having established himself as an actor and having the opportunity to learn from
the playwrights themselves, William Shakespeare moved to London and become a
shareholder of one of the most popular acting companies in London, Lord Chamberlain’s
Men. It is known that William Shakespeare had moved on from Stratford-Upon-Avon
towards the ending of the Lost Years. During this time he moved to London with the
acting company. Shakespeare’s involvement in this acting company proved important as
during this time he became a valuable playwright, writing some of his most famous plays,
which are found in the Shakespearean Canon. The broadcasting of most of Shakespeare’s
plays were in London, at the Globe Theater. Throughout this period stated by BBC
History, “The company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of
London near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars” (bbc.co.uk, 5). As
at this time he was involved with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, it is directly plausible for
William Shakespeare to have been involved with the production. Thus this opposes the
common beliefs of others, which state Shakespeare did not have a motive to be in London
at the times of these plays. In the years of Shakespeare’s life in London, the city was
becoming a melting pot of sorts. In the year of 1600, the Morocco embassy came to
London for a visit. That year, London was curious by the Ambassador’s Moorish actions.
This curiosity of London was found in Shakespeare’s writings. Stated by Mark Love
from PBS, “Such events and their repercussions upon society as always would find
themselves into Shakespeare's work, in this case "Othello," which was written around
1602” (Love, 9). Shakespeare’s involvement in acting and his acting company, allowed
him to take what was going on around him and introduce the same themes into his plays.
Shakespeare presence in London at this time draws a connection to his life experiences
and the Shakespearean Canon. Thus, as Shakespeare absorbs all that appears before him,
his acting abilities and the places it takes him, he provides reason to take ownership of
the canon.
Shakespeare’s upbringing of a working class man and the fatalities he faced as a
father and a son, as well as the abilities brought to him by his acting background, are
associated with the Shakespearean Canon, determining him to be the author of the canon.
Each play was personalized as a point in Shakespeare’s life, as he used his experiences
and past to solidify his ownership. His middle man viewpoint in life
brought together two diverse minds, creating an audience of open ears and bright eyes.
The traumatic circumstances he had to endure brought upon the grief and passionate
feelings that was seen throughout plays like Hamlet, while his acting career helped
shaped his position as a playwright. Therefore, as Polonius noted the significance of
being true to who you are, William Shakespeare was not one to falsify himself to the
public. Shakespeare’s credibility lies intact, as each one of his life experiences proves
evermore, that he has sole authorship over the Shakespearean Canon.
Bibliography
Bray, Peter. "Men, Loss and Spiritual Emergency: Shakespeare, the Death of Hamnet and
theMaking of Hamlet." Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality, n.d. Web. 8 Dec.
2015. <http://www.jmmsweb.org/issues/volume2/number2/pp95-115>.
Matus, Irvin. "The Case for Shakespeare." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, n.d.
Web. 13
Dec. 2015. <http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/flashbks/shakes/matus.htm>.
Stevenson, Alexa. "Probing Question: Did Shakespeare Really Write All Those Plays? |
Penn
State University." Pennsylvania State University, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<http://news.psu.edu/story/141315/2008/12/01/research/probing-question-did-shakespear
e-really-write-all-those-plays>.
"William Shakespeare." BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation, n.d. Web. 7 Dec.
2015.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_shakespeare/>.
Love, Mark. “Shakespeare’s London” PBS, 2003
<http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/locations/location154.html>
Best, Michael. “Shakespeare at Grammar School.” Internet Shakespeare Editions.
University of Victory, 29 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Nov.
<http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/school/grammarschool.html>
Bamford, Karen. “Fathers and Sons in Shakespeare: The Debt Never Promised (review)”
University of Toronto. 2012
<https://muse.jhu.edu>
“Britain’s First Black Community in Elizabethan London”. BBC News. British
Broadcasting Corporation. July 20, 2012.
<http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18903391 >
Wells, S. (2001). Education. In M. a. Dobson, The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare.
London, England: Oxford UP
Greenblatt, Stephen. “The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet”. NYREV INC. ,
October 21, 2004
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/10/21/the-death-of-hamnet-and-the-making-ofhamlet/>
Evans, Gwynne, and Harry Levin. "Shakespeare as Shakespeare." PBS. n.d. Web. 13
Dec. 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shakespeare/debates/harvardmag.html>.
"Shakespeare's Life." Folger Shakespeare Library, 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life>.
Hechinger, Paul. "Did Shakespeare Really Write His Plays? A Few Theories Examined |
BBC
America." BBC America., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows//blog/2011/10/did-shakespeare-really-write-his-play
s-a-few-theories-examined>.