The Man From Stratford

"Willy Shakes certainly couldn't have written all those plays right? Listen to Chelsea and Cristina discuss one of the biggest conspiracies in academia. Was Shakespeare an earl or duke? Maybe a man of bacon or even a woman? Maybe these attempted cover ups deserve a play about them."

Presented by: Chelsea
Category: Conspiracy

The question of who authored the plays attributed William Shakespeare began in the 1800s when anti-Stratfordians (people who believe that Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon didn't write his own plays) noticed a lack of written evidence of Shakespeare being a professional writer (other than his plays and sonnets). In perhaps the greatest example of confirmation bias on record, they support their claims with a number of spurious, misunderstood and sometimes made up pieces of evidence:


 * There's no record of his education (There's no records of anybody attending his local school that survive to the present day)
 * His six surviving signatures are spelled differently (This predates standardized spelling)
 * His will is written in a "mundane" style (It's a legal document)
 * His statue originally had him holding a bag of grain instead of a quill (this is a lie)

The list of 80 suspects is too big to list in full, but some notable names include:


 * The Earl of Oxford
 * Sir Francis Bacon
 * Christopher Marlowe
 * Sir Walter Raleigh
 * Queen Elizabeth

The basis of this conspiracy is not in reality, but blatant classism.

Takeaway: The simplest solution is usually the right one. Classism is stupid. Look at why people believe things.

Trivia

 * Patreon Skit: Mal is a pokemon.
 * Chelsea teases the story of Amelia Bassano, possibly the Dark Lady, had a hand in helping Shakespeare.