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Is Shakespeare the greatest of all time? William Shakespeare is often praised as one of the greatest and most creative playwrights to have ever exist, who is still influencing today’s music and poems even 400 years after his death. But is that really the truth? Could it be possible that the great William Shakespeare was not a genius, but an Impostor? Could it be possible, that Shakespeare’s plays weren’t even written by himself? And if so who is the original author? In this Blog we are going to inform you about the “Shakespeare Conspiracy” and answer all the questions above. At the end we will come to a conclusion if Shakespeare is indeed one of the greatest playwrights to ever exist, or just an average human who presented someone else’s work as his own.

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The Shakespeare conspiracy 

Shakespeare is commonly heralded as one of, if not THE most important writer of modern times. But did he even write his own plays? I have often come across doubtful stances about Shakespeare‘s authenticity as an author, an example of this being the 2011 movie „Anonymous“. The commonly proposed alternaive is that of a tense political situation of the Elizabethan era, filled with plots and other mischievous activity. If you are interested in learning about the politics of britain hundreds of years ago or you are just curious about who wrote Shakespeare’s great plays i would suggest reading this article.

Politics in the Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is most characterized by political unrest, plots to overthrow the thrown and religious quarrels among royalty. The main “problem” was that queen elizabeth was a protestant while a majority of european monarchy was still catholic. Because of this, many intrigues have been spun to replace Elizabeth with Mary, queen of scots who was herself a catholic. Mary would eventually end up executed after many failed attempts to instate her as queen of england. Some of those plots were thwarted by movie-like means, for example double-agents, coordinated by the queens spy master.

Where the theory comes from Now that you know the historical background you may wonder how this connects to Shakespeare. We’ll get to that, but first we have to talk about the reason people even question Shakespeare’s authorship in the first place. During Shakespeare’s times, most people were illiterate, save for nobles and royalty among a few others. This would incude Shakespeare aswell, who wasn’t a noble but rather the son of a glover. People claim that Shakespeare wouldn’t have the necessary education or knowledge to wirte the kind of plays, which often cover a wide array of topics, that he wrote. Alternatives Now, the proposed reason for crediting Shakespeare for plays he supposedly didn’t write is that it was done to cover the identity of the true author. This may have been the case because of various reasons, such as gender or social standing. This is also where the political situation ties into the story. In theory, Shakespeares play may have been written by someone who had a unfavourable standing with british royalty.

In conclusion… With all that being said, this proposed theory still seems quite outlandish. It appears to have almost no evidence to back it up and one could even call it a conspiracy theory. Even for the unlikely case that it is true, it wouldn’t even change anything as the impact that Shakespeare had on our world would still remain.

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“Time’s glory is to calm contending kings, to unmask falsehood, and bring truth to light.” ~William Shakespeare

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The Accusations that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays (entirely) by himself, we’re made long after his death. But what would Shakespeare have said if he had been accused during his lifetime? To answer that question we prepared an imaginary interview with William Shakespeare, confronting him with the rumors about the true origin of his works.

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Interview with William Shakespeare

Interviewer: Today we invited world famous poet and playwright William Shakespeare to answer some questions about him and his work, especially concerning the rumors about not having written his plays by himself. Mr. Shakespeare welcome to the studio, it is an honor to have you here. Shakespeare: I am thankful for the opportunity to maketh things cleareth. Interviewer: My first question to you, Mr. Shakespeare, would be: what inspired you to start writing plays? Shakespeare: Firstly, I wast did inspire by Ovid, his literary influenced me the most. Interviewer: And how did you come up with the particular topics for your plays? Shakespeare: Well, 't wast not easy to cometh up with these masterpieces of mineth, but i can sayeth yond (that) social questions did play a huge role Interviewer: Did you have any help in the writing process or did you do it all on your own? Shakespeare: The only holp i hadst wast m huge talent of writing and of course a pen and paper. Interviewer: What role does queen Elizabeth play? How did she influence you in your work? Shakespeare: Ah Elizabeth.  Aye the lady did play a big role because the lady wast a big supporter of mineth.  One couldst sayeth the lady wast mine own number one fan.  To giveth that lady something in returneth, I gaveth some of mine own roles her character traits. Interviewer: Does your lack of education affect you somehow in your profession? Shakespeare: Lack of education!? what a horrendous disrespect to the most wondrous (the great) William Shakespeare! I did study in Stanford with focus on training in classical literature and rhetoric in original latin! Interviewer: Who was your greatest influence? Who inspired you the most? Shakespeare: Mine own inspiration is ev'rything, especially myself! but i wilt eke humbly admiteth yond i wast did inspire by Sir Philip Sidney's work and the essays of Michel de Montagne.  And again, Ovid eke did inspire me a lot, who is't I consider the most wondrous playwriter, besides myself, of course. Interviewer: What do you think about the accusations of several people claiming you did not write the plays by yourself? Shakespeare: All the people who is't art claiming yond I, the most wondrous Shakespeare, didst not writeth mine owneth worketh shouldst beest horribly ashamed of themselves! Those gents art jealous of mine own incredible talent and mine own unsurpassable genius! But I, most wondrous William Shakespeare shall proveth to those folk yond I am the greatest of all timeth! Interviewer: Mr. Shakespeare thank you for taking the time to answer our Questions. Again it was a very big honor for us. Shakespeare: Thanketh thee.

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Shakespeare is undeniably one of the most influential playwrights of all time and there is no evidence that he didn’t write his plays by himself. And even if his work wasn’t done entirely by him, it wouldn’t change anything on the huge impact he still has today. Therefore the conclusion of this blog is that Shakespeare is indeed the G.O.A.T.

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“Love me or hate me, both are in my favor. If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart. If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.” ~William Shakespeare

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Article: Philipp

Interview: Berdan, Miguel, Filippos

Introduction, Transition, Conclusion (Texts): Filippos, Julius

Quotes: Miguel, Julius

Pictures: Filippos