I was shocked to learn when I read that William Shakespeare wasn't the author of all the masterpieces known as his. And that the queen of England was the author of these works. Is there any grain of truth to this?
By: wolschulze at: 10th August, 2009
Status:
Answered
Answer:
Firstly, I should say that I do not subscribe to theories about another writer having written what are known as Shakespeare's works. Many candidates have been proposed - Marlowe, the Earl of Oxford, Elizabeth, the Countess of Pembroke etc.
However, evidence from Henslowe's accounts for the Rose Theatre (often referred to as Henslowe's Diary) suggests that many plays penned in Elizabethan England were collaborative, and that writers were paid to make alterations to others work subsequent to the first performances. It is therefore extremely likely that Shakespeare worked in collaboration with other writers. We know that this was the case with Two Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII, and the only sample of manuscript thought to be in Shakespeare's hand (Hand D in the Book of Sir Thomas More) is that of the author of two major scenes in a manuscript in which at least four other writers have a hand.
I would, therefore suggest that some of the work that we know as Shakespeare's (scenes and lines) may not have been his - having been written by a collaborator or 'mender', but that linguistic, metrical and other textual analysis points to a principal author of the Workes, and that there are sufficient contemporary references to suggest that this was William Shakespeare.