edward de vere

The Question of Authorship is one of those topics that is so over-discussed I hesitate to write a post about it. But something interesting has recently been cooked up by famous Shakespearean actor Derek Jacobi that I simply can’t ignore.

His new Web site, DoubtAboutWill.org, re-ignites the authorship fire, claiming that the topic should be more openly discussed in classrooms and at dinner tables across the world. Finally, we should all point out the elephant in the room and stop kidding ourselves: there’s a possibility that Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare.

My question for the D.J.: Since when have people stopped discussing this possibility? Have I been the only person noticing that the shelf devoted to the Question of Authorship at Barnes & Noble seems to fester and grow larger each coming month? One of the most recent additions,
Shakespeare by Another Name, triumphantly declares near-proof that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, wrote Shakespeare.

Sigh.

As a fellow Bard fan observed, Shakespeare is really more like a genre than a person, these days. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much about the issue. Go read Measure for Measure. Bask in the tenacity of Claudio and the virtuousness of Isabella. Don’t fret about where it came from.

Or, you can go sign Darek’s petition.