Who was William Shakespeare This research paper takes a look at the controversy surrounding the validity of I must tell you that before performing this research, I had noidea that this topic was such a debate in the world of literature. My goal in writing thispaper is to hopefully bring some insight and knowledge to those who read it.Who was the man we call William Shakespeare? William Shakespeare was aman who wrote more than 36 world-famous dramas portraying the range and depth ofhuman nature. Surprisingly, we know very little about the man who created thesedramas, a man often referred to as the greatest literary genius in history. Shakespeare didnot in his own day inspire the mysterious adoration that afterward came to surround hisworks. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April of 1564, the son of aglover. When he was 18 years old he married Anne Hathaway and they had 3 children bythe time he was 21. There are a number of references to Shakespeare as an actor andauthor by those who would have known him. However, there is not a single word of theplays or the poems that is definitely in Shakespeare’s handwriting. There are only sixremaining legal documents containing his signature, which I might ad contain differentspellings of his name. Since the mid 19th century, a large group of disbelievers have argued thatsomeone other than the Stratford man created the poems and plays presented as theworks of William Shakespeare. Since 1856 there have been 17 different proposedsubstitutes for Shakespeare including the Earl of Oxford, Sir Francis Bacon, ChristopherMarlowe, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Rutland, Sir Walter Raleigh and even QueenElizabeth I herself. Assuming that Shakespeare of Stratford did not write the plays, Charlton Ogburn,author and scholar, believes that a well educated man by the name of Edward de Vere,Earl of Oxford fits the description as the author. The author who wrote Richard III, and Ha...
