Who Was Shakespeare?
By Dr. Syed Amir
Bethesda, MD
William
Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of the most celebrated
poets and playwrights who ever lived. For four
centuries, he has enthralled and delighted countless
people around the globe with his poetry and staged
plays. His language and literary styles have had
a powerful enriching influence on English literature,
discernible in the writings of such modern writers
as Bernard Shaw and John Webster.
Even though the English language, much of its
spelling and expressions, has changed since Shakespeare’s
days, the compelling attraction of his plays continues
undiminished. The Shakespeare Society recently
celebrated the 442nd birthday of the renowned
bard on April 23, 2006, in a four-hour long free
festival at Symphony Space, a prominent center
of cultural, literary and artistic shows in New
York, in which many artists and poets recited
his work. Later in June, the Public Theatre in
Central Park will stage a free show of Lady Macbeth,
which is expected to attract a large number of
people.
Shakespeare seems to have become a deceptively
familiar figure through his prodigious writings;
yet, paradoxically, we know very little about
him. None of his original manuscripts has survived
and there are no contemporary chronicles from
his days that would be enlightening about his
life. No only is there a disagreement about who
wrote his plays, there is no agreement about how
he even looked in real life.
While there is no dearth of Shakespeare portraits,
no one knows if any of them is an authentic depiction
of the celebrated dramatist. It was common for
members of the nobility or aristocrats in the
sixteenth-century England, when he lived, to commission
artists to draw their portraits or craft a painting.
Shakespeare, however, came from a humble background
in the English midlands. It is unlikely that he
would have the means to commission such a work
of art, and there is no indication that he did
so even when he became an established playwright
later in life. Even a description of his physical
appearance does not exist. Nevertheless, over
several centuries, several portraits were made
of him, but like most aspects of his life remain
mired in controversy. The most familiar among
them is named the Chandos portrait, as it was
once owned by the first Duke of Chandos, until
it was donated to the London’s Portrait
Gallery in 1856, where it remains to date. Despite
its prominence, it has not engendered universal
acceptance, and many art historians doubt its
authenticity.
The question of whether any of the purported portraits
in existence today is authentic has assumed new
interest, stimulated by an ongoing exhibition,
named Searching for Shakespeare, at the London
Portrait Gallery. The London exhibition, marking
the 150th birthday of the gallery, has on display
the Chandos portrait as well as five others contending
for the honor to be declared the genuine image
of Shakespeare. The Chandos painting, the curators
believe, comes closest to representing the actual
appearance of the poet. It shows him with a mustache
and beard, in a costume that was traditional in
sixteenth century England. Who actually painted
this portrait and when, unfortunately, remains
unknown. The Portrait Gallery has also collected
valuable data on Shakespeare’s life and
has composed a historic account of his friends
and contemporaries drawn from his hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon.
The problem in identifying Shakespeare’s
authentic portrait pales in comparison with the
heated controversy that has been raging for at
least two centuries about the question of who
really wrote the plays that are accredited to
him. His writings showcase a high level of sophistication
and scholarship on the part of the author as well
as knowledge of history, literature, law and familiarity
with cultures of lands far beyond the British
Isles. There were not many people in the sixteenth-century,
Elizabethan England, other than landed aristocracy
and nobility, who were likely to possess such
scholastic qualities and would be capable of such
literary accomplishments as those attained by
Shakespeare. There are no records to demonstrate
that Shakespeare attended any of the recognized
centers of higher learning, Oxford or Cambridge;
as far as we know he was educated at a local grammar
school. He grew up in a middle-class family and
ordinarily would not have been acquainted with
the language and etiquette of the aristocratic
society that suffuse his plays. Thus, on the face
of it, there is a mystifying dissonance between
Shakespeare’s capabilities and his literary
achievements. The subject has generated lively
debate among literary scholars who have been divided
on the question of who was the real author of
the work attributed to him. Most, however, have
favored the notion that it was Shakespeare himself.
If Shakespeare did not write the plays then who
else might have? Several renaissance literary
figures have been proposed as possible contenders
for the honor. Included among these are Edward
de Vere (Earl of Oxford), Francis Bacon, and Christopher
Marlowe, all contemporaries of Shakespeare. Occasional
similarities in the text and style of these writers
and those of Shakespeare have prompted some scholars
to muse that one of them might have created the
literary masterpieces under a pseudonym. Apparently,
in Elizabethan England, writing poetry and professional
acting were not considered quite respectable pursuits
and those indulging in these pastimes may have
wanted to conceal their identities.
The possibility that Sir Francis Bacon, a well
recognized English philosopher and essayist, and
a courtier to King James 1, might be the author
of the Shakespeareans plays was first raised in
the mid-nineteenth century, more than two hundred
years after Shakespeare’s death. The suggestion
was based partly on the claim that the text of
one of the Shakespeare’s plays had an embedded
code - “these plays of Bacon should be preserved
for the world” - identifying Bacon as the
author. Later researchers, however, discounted
this theory, as no hidden, unexplained messages
have been uncovered in the text. Similarly, the
claim that the Earl of Oxford, the courtier poet
to Queen Elizabeth 1 and an accomplished dramatist,
wrote Shakespeare’s plays was suggested
by the observation that the publication of the
Earl’s poetry ceased about the same time
that Shakespeare’s started to appear, raising
the possibility that the Earl may have continued
to write under a pseudo name.
Christopher Marlowe, the famous poet, dramatist
and lyricist of the Elizabethan era, has also
been suggested as a possible creator of Shakespeare’s
work. Credibility of these various claims has
been greatly weakened, however, by the fact that
they are based on many unproven assumptions and
speculations. Most importantly, no one during
Shakespeare’s lifetime, his contemporaries
and fellow actors, ever expressed any reservations
about his authorship of his plays.
The controversy about Shakespeare and questions
raised about his literary achievements are not
unique to him. Those interested in Urdu poetry
might find a parallel in the story of the last
Mogul emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. The true worth
of his poetry and his place as a literary figure
was not fully recognized during his lifetime,
as some critics and scholars raised doubts whether
he was the author of his own poetry or it was
in fact the work of his mentor, the poet laureate,
Ustad Ibrahim Zouq. Only later did it become apparent
that Zafar was a poet of great distinction, with
a style and intellectual profundity that was unique
and entirely his own.
The debate about the authorship of Shakespearean
plays will undoubtedly continue in the rarified
academic environments of universities and research
centers for years. Meanwhile, his literary heritage
will remain a source of much enlightenment and
delight for lovers of literature around the world.
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