For the past few months, every book I’ve picked up seems to be about Shakespeare, perhaps encouraging me to write about him. But later, I also wanted the less known of the two views about Shakespeare, that he was not actually Shakespeare, to be more widely known.
William Shakespeare, a poet who left his mark on the late 16th and early 17th centuries, was baptized on April 26, 1564, but his exact date of birth is unknown. Although we have very little information about Shakespeare’s life, we do know that he married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, had three children, and the last two were twins. Between 1585-1592, he began his career as an actor, writer, and owner of a theater company.
The first person to uncover the overlooked facts about Shakespeare was the American writer Mark Twain. In the “Shakespeare Dead?” chapter of his work “My Autobiography,” which was originally published uncensored and then later censored, Twain compared him to the devil and then stated that Shakespeare had not written a single play in his entire life. Furthermore, the sonnets attributed to Shakespeare are not his. As anyone can prove, Shakespeare only wrote one poem.
“Ancient friend, in the name of Jesus,
Do not scatter the dust of this grave.
God protect the one who guards this tombstone.
And cursed be the one who disturbs my bones!”
He had written this poem and wanted it to be inscribed on his tombstone. As he wished, he also specified that his entire estate should be distributed exactly as he wanted. However, the fact that a great poet’s will does not include any of his works caught Twain’s attention, and he did not hesitate to say that Shakespeare’s will belonged not to a poet, but to a merchant.
Shakespeare researchers who analyzed each of his works also examined his sonnets. When the words in the 29th sonnet were examined individually, they revealed the musings of an exiled man. Moreover, the poem was written entirely in the first person. However, Shakespeare had never been exiled. And it was even uncertain whether he had left England at all. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (daughter of VIII Henry Tudor and Anne Boleyn), who was the ruler at the time, great importance was placed on writing history and recording every event. Surely, if a great writer like Shakespeare had been exiled or had left England for Italy, the Tudor Dynasty would have known about it. Moreover, is it possible for someone who has never been to Italy to describe Verona and Florence so intimately?
So, with so many contradictions about the writer’s life, who wrote these works and why?
There was another writer born in England the same year as Shakespeare. Like Shakespeare, he was also born in Stratford-Upon-Avon. They went to the same schools. Both of their fathers were workers. This writer was none other than Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe was a very successful writer, the author of plays like Dr. Faustus, which is considered the beginning of English tragedy. Unfortunately, he fell victim to England at a young age.
Both Marlowe and Shakespeare continued their education as much as they could in Stratford-Upon-Avon. But education was limited in a small town. After this point, Marlowe continued his education and even rose to Cambridge University, while Shakespeare quit reading.
Marlowe combined the requirements of his education with his talent. He translated from Ovid, wrote his first rhyming poems, and wrote the first historical play about the persecution of homosexuals in England with his play “Edward II.” Unfortunately, Marlowe was accused of perversion in his works, and after being tried in Star Chamber, he was executed. The body of John Penry, who was executed the day before Marlowe, disappeared on the day Marlowe was executed.
Two months after Marlowe’s death, a writer who would become famous throughout England emerged. This person, who introduced his first poem Venus and Adonis as the heir to his art, was none other than Shakespeare. However, there is no record whatsoever that the work belongs to him, and neither the handwriting nor the six signatures match.
In the studies conducted on Shakespeare, which are still debated today, a very different information was also found. Shakespeare’s only known painting was not actually his. Lillian Schwartz proved this and even more interestingly, she proved who the original painting belonged to. The painting belonged to the Queen of the period, Elizabeth.
In 1902, a professor named Mendenhall in Ohio began to create a table of the words, sentence structures, word lengths, and vocabulary that writers unknowingly use. A person who wanted to test Bacon’s works to prove that they belonged to him asked the professor to include Marlowe and Shakespeare among the 20 writers he would compare. The result of the test was more interesting than the works belonging to Bacon because Marlowe and Shakespeare’s results matched each other exactly.
While all of this was happening, and Shakespeare was making a name for himself in England, and Marlowe was enjoying his success, what was Marlowe doing exactly?
The body of John Penry, who disappeared on the day Marlowe was allegedly executed, turned out to be Marlowe’s body. How did Marlowe manage to leave the records in such an important period when innocent people were executed in Star Chamber, and people were killed in the name of Protestantism? Marlowe couldn’t have escaped easily from such a court. He had to pay the price by getting rid of his identity. Christopher Marlowe, the Queen’s favorite playwright, suddenly turned into Monsieur Le Doux, her favorite agent in Italy, the morning after his execution.
With Marlowe’s death, leaving England became easier, and Monsieur, aka Marlowe, went to Italy. And he did so without any obstacles. Of course, it is probably understood how Monsieur’s espionage in Italy was reflected in Shakespeare’s works…