Shakespeare authorship question biography samples

Fringe theories that Shakespeare's works were written by someone else

The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him.

Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—believe that Shakespeare of Stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason—usually social rank, state security, or gender—did not want or could not accept public credit.^[1] Although the idea has attracted much public interest,^[2][a] all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe theory, and for the most part acknowledge it only to rebut or disparage the claims.^[3]

Shakespeare's authorship was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century,^[4] when adulation of Shakespeare as the greatest write