Is Shakespeare Dead? by Mark Twain ISBN: 9781646793495
Published by Harper & Brothers on May 23, 2022
Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction
Pages: 149
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"From away back toward the very beginning of the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy I have been on the Bacon side, and have wanted to see our majestic Shakespeare unhorsed. My reasons for this attitude may have been good, they may have been bad, but such as they were, they strongly influenced me."
-Mark Twain (1909)
Is Shakespeare Dead?-From My Autobiography (1909), by Mark Twain, is about the age-old debate whether Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. Twain supports the Baconian theory, which holds that Sir Francis Bacon, philosopher, scientist, and statesman, wrote the plays which were attributed to William Shakespeare.
This jacketed hardcover replica of the original illustrated edition of Is Shakespeare Dead?, offers both an intriguing and entertaining read.
I don’t recall where I discovered this very short musing on the authorship of Shakespeare, but since age 17 I’ve been a believer that Edward de Vere (or a group of men) were the true authors of the works attributed to Shakespeare. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the myth of the actor-turned-genius, and certainly getting a glimpse into the life of one man in Stratford was a delight (though the best part was learning about his mother, Mary Arden, and touring her living history farm). But it’s not an argument at the top of my mind most days.
So reading this was both amusing (Twain eviscerates Stratfordians- that is, those who believe William Shakespeare the actor was the author of the plays we attribute to him) and educational. His argument against Startfordians centers around three things:
- That we only have a few actual verified facts about Shakespeare, and everything else is assumption (that scholars have decided along the way must be true, because they’re possible).
- That Shakespeare had zero notoriety in Stratford- nobody commented on his death or brought up any memories of him, which they would’ve if he were the celebrity we believed him to be. Apparently, nobody commented on Shakespeare of Stratford until over 60 years after his death, and that was a memory of a conversation with someone who might’ve known him.
- That Shakespeare’s knowledge of Tudor law was evident in his language as well as legal plot points in the plays at a level far above someone having casually picked it up from the conversations of others. This is the argument that’s most well laid out, quoting scholars and presenting counterpoints.
Where this was a little more wandering and less persuasive was around the assumption that if they were not written by Shakespeare, they must’ve been written by Sir Francis Bacon. Twain himself says he isn’t convinced they were written by Bacon, but he presents no alternative consideration and goes on at length about Bacon’s qualifications. So the end feels a little more meandering and less well laid out, and there’s an element of memoir in it as Twain muses about his own life and righteousness.
Regardless, you can tell that Twain has given the matter consideration, and his usual wry wit, and although this piece wasn’t originally considered for publication, it’s more or less in an approachable essay format.
Read for the ClearUrSht readathon.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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