I'm about to do my second paper on why I don't think the works attributed to Shakespare were actually written by him. I have researched this topic for two years now, have read nine of Shakespare's plays, and the complete works of the person I believe did in fact write them.
Does anybody have any thoughts? Who could it be? Francis Bacon? Sir Walter Raleigh? Ben Jonson? Thomas Kyd?
I think I know. I'd like the thoughts of the others on this board. I know a certain faction is absolutely positive that it was Tom Izzo, but I'm going to head that one off at the pass and say it is almost impossible that The Izzo could have done it.
Try it with no "googling" first. Then do your research. It's all over the net, so it would not be a difficult task to come up with some tasty alternatives.
I'll be monitoring the discussion, and chiming in with hints every now and then as to who and why I think it is who it is.

Who the fuck is Shakespere? Is he a rapper?

I'm about to do my second paper on why I don't think the works attributed to Shakespare were actually written by him. I have researched this topic for two years now, have read nine of Shakespare's plays, and the complete works of the person I believe did in fact write them.
Does anybody have any thoughts? Who could it be? Francis Bacon? Sir Walter Raleigh? Ben Jonson? Thomas Kyd?
I think I know. I'd like the thoughts of the others on this board. I know a certain faction is absolutely positive that it was Tom Izzo, but I'm going to head that one off at the pass and say it is almost impossible that The Izzo could have done it.
Try it with no "googling" first. Then do your research. It's all over the net, so it would not be a difficult task to come up with some tasty alternatives.
I'll be monitoring the discussion, and chiming in with hints every now and then as to who and why I think it is who it is.


I believe he was the true author and was a true person. I have several editions of his complete works, which keep on being added to, so perhaps there are few works attributed to him that were not his. I am hardly an expert however so you may be right, I don't know. However One piece of evidence that makes me believe he was real are the events of the Guy Fawkes conspiracy. Shakespeare was believed to be in on it, however to deflect attention from himself he wrote MacBeth to appease King James. Ghost writers need not fear real events if people do not know who they are, people knew who Shakespeare was. He feared that if he didn't deflect attention from himself and his family great harm could come there way.

Walter Raleigh, isn't plausible IMO he was busy frying bigger fish and by the time the later works attributed to Shakespeare were published he was at the mercy of various justice systems 15-18 long years before his execution.

Kyd was dead too early to fit your postulate, there were a lot events in the later work that ran parallel to that era in England, stuff that was beyond mere coincidence.

I know of the Bacon Cipher, but that seems a little too Oliver Stone for my liking. Bacon was a man of philosophy and science, he was too well regarded in those fields to have the need to hide his artistic side if there was one. He was rather pompous, not the type of person who would hide from acclaim.

I am familiar with Ben Johnson but not as well as I could be, but if there was truth to falsity of Shakespeare my money would be on him.

FYI to all wondering, I am a nerd, I have a massive library in my office.

Honestly, the question of "Who was Shakespeare?" seems pointless. Everyone who might have been Shakespeare has been studied as exhaustively as if they -were- Shakespeare. At best, it's a Trivial Pursuit answer, something which causes people who might've otherwise written some great plays or other works to obsess about "the master". Speaking of which, here's Shakespeare's picture if it helps you in your quest:

http://www.throwd.com/catalog/images/shonuff.jpg

Try it with no "googling" first. Then do your research. It's all over the net, so it would not be a difficult task to come up with some tasty alternatives.

I Googled it, I just couldn't resist.

Never would have guessed that William Shakespeare was actually Nipsey Russell.

http://www.grudge-match.com/Images/Nipsey.gif

Great thoughts, JS.
Glenn: Nipsey Russell. Could be. I'm going to have to check his bio to see exactly what year he was born.
JS: Right with Kyd and Jonson. One of the most formidable foes of those who think Shakespeare did not write his own stuff is literary critic Harold Bloom. Try, if interested, two books by him: "Genius", and "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human".
I have ruled out Bacon or Raliegh long ago. I agree that Bacon was more a philosopher and science writer than anything.
As for the Guy Fawlkes conspiracy, I hadn't heard anything about a possible Shakespeare connection. Shakespeare seems to have been real careful about staying away from politics and religion. What is odd is that all of the play writers from that era at some time or another found themselves in trouble with the English government. Thomas Kyd was tortured over something he either wrote or was supposed to know who wrote it. He gave information up on one man.
Shakespeare himself had obstacles to overcome if he were to emerge as the writer of the greatest literature (at least until Tupac Shakur came along) we have ever seen.
He came from an illiterate family; never left Stratford-on-Avon as a child; never left England; it is noted that his own family (his wife and children) were illieterate. Shakespeare had only a cursory education not heavily based in Latin studies, let alone the other languages he wrote in (French and Italian). He never went beyond elementary school in terms of education.
As for MacBeth, it is generally accepted that the author of that story actually knew the King of Scotland.
Let's focus on the fact that Shakespeare was a virtual unknown commodity, and had nothing published before 1593.

Moxie:
The question of whether or not Shakespeare is Shakespeare is important in light of the fact that this literature means what it means to not only the world, but to England. Shakespeare is consdered to be the author of the "Secular Bible". It is the same as the Christian pictures of Jesus as a blond haired white man with blue eyes. What the fuck? he was from the Middle East!
Well, Shakespeare means that much to the English. he is their heritage, the diner of their culture, the man who created, or was a large part of, their mythological lore. How on Earth could he have been a criminal, a homosexual, and possessor of many other various, nefarious characteristics?

Pfft. They've always got King Arthur. And the whole "the sun never sets" era. And Oasis.

Don't forget Led Zeppelin.

Dammit Glenn!
The paper is due Tuesday, so when I began doing my research last night at 10:00, I thought I had it figured out!
Now, you have raised the distinct possibility that Nipsey Russell has been fooling all of us for 400 years! That fucker!

Dammit Glenn!
The paper is due Tuesday, so when I began doing my research last night at 10:00, I thought I had it figured out!
Now, you have raised the distinct possibility that Nipsey Russell has been fooling all of us for 400 years! That fucker!


He was quite crafty.

His gameshow poetry was quite dissimilar to his literary work.

Nipsey was a renaissance man, to be sure.

On May 29, 1593, John Penry, convicted for a part in the Marprelate Controversy (a series of pamphlets detailing the supposed evil tactics of the Church of England), was whisked away from his cell at The Tower, and without notice to family, lawyer, or friends, hanged in the middle of the night. There remains no record of a formal autopsy or burial of his body.
The next day a crime was allegedly committed which altered the course of history, and which played a part in igniting one of the hottest controversies known to man.
And no, Nipsey Russell did not "Stagecoach" jack someone.

Lots of activity on the "Off Topic" forum. New threads, revisiting old ones.
What is one to make of this? I smell a rat.
Someone, or someones, are out to bury my Shakespeare thread. It is a conspiracy.
That's OK. We're embroiled in a conspiracy after all. The conspiracy to bury the real author of the stories attributed to Shakespeare.
But I shall fight on; I shall endeavor to uncover this great mystery, even if I have to do it alone.

Shakespear's Sister is partly from Detroit, and named Marcella.
This tidbit might also help you in your quest.

Marcella, you say? This is getting interesting. First Nipsey Russell, and now the inevitable Detroit connection!
Kind of reminds me of a local newscast teaser during "Sweeps" month.
"This is Bill Bonds HIC reporHICting BELCH. Coming up during happy hour, I mean, the Six O'ClockHIC BELCH News, new evidence unerffedHIC indicates that ShingsBELCH may have helped Henry BELCH Ford HIC invent Cars!"

http://img.search.com/thumb/0/09/Christopher_Marlowe.jpg/180px-Christopher_Marlowe.jpg

Zip have you looked into Shakespeare epitaph, it is part of the mystery.


GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE TO
DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE.
BLEST BE YE MAN YT SPARES THES STONES AND
CURST BE HE YT MOVES MY BONES

Modern English


Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosèd here. Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

According to the story Shakespeare wrote the epitaph, to discourage grave robbers while others felt the real reason was to hide his identity. To this day no one has ever opened the tomb because of the curse many believe.

I have not heard of or looked into that JS. Thanks, I'm going to check on that.
I have found out that many doubt even the EXISTENCE of "Wiliam Shakespeare", or that my suspected ghost writer assumed his identity.
One problem I have with the second theory is that many post 1632 sightings and writings of my suspect have emerged.
That is very interesting.

http://www.mrmethane.com/fartvideoimg/vid_still_5.jpg

I give you the REAL Shakespeare:
http://www2.localaccess.com/marlowe/pamphlet/pamphlet.htm

http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/rey/chap5.htm

some of my favorite plays:

measure for measure
merchant of venice
twelfth night
othello
hamlet
king lear
julius caesar
richard III
antony and cleopatra

macbeth falls under the category of least favorites. and actually, most of his histories that i've read werent too interesting, either.

he's got what, about 40 plays? i've read somewhere in the 20's, studied probably 15 in classes. shakespeare has the rep of being difficult, he's not at all. maybe compared to harry potter, i guess. but once you get the hang of it (less than one play probably) its pretty easy, and a slow reader like me can polish off a book in a few days easily. i honestly dont care at all who really wrote the works, but maybe i'll dig up some research on this.

diddy:
Nice work, but I disagree on MacBeth.
MacBeth comes at you like a freight train, the story begins in the middle, and the action is very fast and furious.
I agree about the difficulty: Once you pick it up, it's just good reading, and the "olde English" becomes quite easy to work with.
Now, read some Christopher Marlowe, and tell me if you don't see something strange at work there.
In the meantime, fillycheesedick, you keep reading those stories on the backs of your Cap'n Crunch boxes.

The histories were some of my favorites. Henry V and Henry VI topping my list.

i liked one of the henry's also. the one where his son comes to power. "i could have better spared a better man", where falstaff dies. i only remember that line cuz we went over it in class and i explained what the line ment to someone 2x as smart as me. an academic highlight for me.

Henry V
Falstaff dies in that one. No lines, just him dying while playing with flowers.

This thread should be re-named "Closet Case Gay Struggling Actors of WTFDetroit Sound Off"

This thread should be re-named "Closet Case Gay Struggling Actors of WTFDetroit Sound Off"
Not that there's anything wrong with that
[smilie=master_emot:

This thread should be re-named "Closet Case Gay Struggling Actors of WTFDetroit Sound Off"
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.

A little known fact about William (or "Billy" as you actors like to call him) Shakespeare:

Back in the day, a man's last name reflected what he mostly did for a living (i.e., Smith would refer to the man being a craftsman of a sort).

Well, take a look at that last name. In old english, spear was "speare", and speare was cockney slang for a certain male appendage.

Hence, Shakespeare meant, quite literally " waving dick", which alludes to a notion that Old Billy* was a descendant of, or a current member of, an exhibitionist clan. Perhaps an ancestor of modern flashers.

With that in mind, would ya, could ya, should ya STILL idolize this man?

I think not.


This pubic service message courtesy of the Moral Majority... remember, you can't spell "liberal" or "literature" without L.I.E.

Except for one thing, Denny:
Bill's given birth name was actually Gillelem Shekespere.
Other than that, he walks around waving his schlong? Maybe Lloyd Carr could use him on the Defensive line!

Except for one thing, Denny:
Bill's given birth name was actually Gillelem Shekespere.
Other than that, he walks around waving his schlong? Maybe Lloyd Carr could use him on the Defensive line!

Well played, but wouldn't Amaker have better use for him?

Shakespeare could have written Tommy Amateur's biography: "Much Ado About Nothing".

He lost his skull, you guys.