THE MURDER OF THE MAN WHO WAS “SHAKESPEARE” —Calvin
Hoffman—Julian Messner . Did William Shakespeare write the works of William Shakespeare? Charles
Dickens was positively jumpy about the problem: “The life of William
Shakespeare is a fine mystery,” he wrote, “and I tremble every day lest
something should turn up.” Among those who have gone further and
insisted that William Shakespeare was a mere pen name are men as
different as Mark Twain , Sigmund Freud , Bismarck, Walt Whitman, Oliver Wendell
Holmes. In 1931, Britain's Gilbert Slater caused a flutter by declaring
that Shakespeare was a seven-man syndicate consisting of Francis Bacon,
Sir Walter Raleigh, Lady Pembroke, Christopher Marlowe and the Earls of
Oxford, Derby, Rutland. Most plausible pretender to the throne of Shakespeare, on grounds of
genius and style, is Marlowe. His claims have not been pressed, except
in regard to Shakespeare's earliest work, for the reason that he died
before most of Shakespeare's plays were written. Anti-Shakespearean
students are prepared to believe almost anything, but none of them has
ever suggested that Marlowe went on writing after he was dead. Heaven
only knows why.
Calvin Hoffman, a reporter, drama critic, Shakespearean scholar, is the
first man to try to grasp this nettle firmly. Could He Read? Author Hoffman, who spent 19 years digging up
“evidence,” believes that Christopher Marlowe fired every
single shot in what is called “The Shakespeare Canon.” The
dedicated tenor of his writing indicates that he would far rather be
burned at the stake than give up his stake in Marlowe. Like all anti-Shakespeareans, Author Hoffman begins by arguing that
William Shakespeare was too much of a booby to have written as well as
he did. There was a flourishing grammar school at Stratford in
Shakespeare's youth, but there is no record of Shakespeare's having
attended it. Nor is there positive evidence that he went to Oxford or
Cambridge . But could
Shakespeare not have educated himself? Author Hoffman scoffs at the
idea.
“There were no public libraries … no dictionaries … no
grammars.” Even if there were, Shakespeare was too
“poverty-stricken” to chase around after them. What is more,
church records show that by the age of 21, William Shakespeare was a
married man with three children. His life, says Author Hoffman was too “full of responsibility” to permit “the hours of
solitude necessary for 'self-education.' ” Could Shakespeare read? The ability to read, after all, is about the
only equipment, apart from being able to write, an author needs. Author
Hoffman skips over this question, but he agrees that the records show
that Shakespeare, in 1594, was listed “as an actor in the Lord
Chamberlain's Company of Players.” This suggests : that Shakespeare had at least learned to read well
enough to master his parts.
