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Sir Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam),
"Those things which are explained in the prose works
of Bacon are to be found repeated, or alluded to, or
forming the basis of beautiful metaphors and similes,
in the Plays. And the vocabulary of Bacon and Shakespeare
is to a surprising degree the same." Constance Pott.
Like Edward De Vere, it is believed that Sir Francis
Bacon wrote under the nom de plume of "Shakespeare"
to hide his royal background and to abide Rosicrucian
order, were anonymity had to be maintained for a hundred
years.
A major proof that Sir Francis Bacon truly authored
the the Bard's plays is the "Northumberland Manuscript".
This bore both Shakespeare’s name and Sir Francis
Bacon’s. It also mentions by name the plays Richard
II and Richard III. Tellingly, it included the phrase
'by Francis William Shakespeare', and the words,
'essays by the same author'. This has been used
to prove Sir Francis Bacon used the name "Shakespeare"
as a nom de plume.
Sir Francis Bacon’s eligibility as the true author
of Shakespeare’s work rests in his legal knowledge
and general education. It is known that Bacon was familiar
with Rosicrucian, Hermetic, Kabbalistic and Neoplatonic
themes. The poem Venus and Adonis, As You
Like It, and Love’s Labour’s Lost
all feature Rosicrucian themes but this does not mean
Sir Francis wrote them; only that he was in a position
to write about Rosicrucian themes.
Unfortunately this is where the similarity ends as
the Bard discusses legal concepts and terms far more
abstractly than Bacon. Even worse for Bacon supporters
is the question of where Bacon could find the time to
write 37 plays, and 154 sonnets, and act in many of
these own plays whilst leading a double life.
Furthermore the claim that Bacon authored Shakespeare’s
poetry suffers from the fact that Bacon’s poetry
is abrupt and stilted unlike the Bard's. Bacon supporters
reply that Francis Bacon’s Promus is the
only surviving collection of terms and phrases which
occur commonly in Shakespeare’s plays. Unfortunately
this does not mean Bacon authored them. Like Stratfordians,
evidence for authorship is highly subjective.
Christopher Marlowe.
The biggest problem Marlowe suffers is he died in 1593,
too early to author many of the famous plays and to
appear before Queen Elizabeth and James I. Furthermore,
all the plays he wrote were published after his death
and attributed to him personally. Why weren’t 37
other plays and 154 sonnets attributed posthumously
as well. Stylistically, Marlowe has little in common
with the Bard and so is a poor contender in the authorship
debate.
William Stanley (Sixth Earl
of Derby).
Only two documents, dated around 1599, form the basis
of Stanley’s claim. Unfortunately they only contend
that Stanley "busied only in penning comedies for
the common players," and is said to take " delight
in the players". This does not prove Stanley was
wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Furthermore Stanley
lived beyond the publishing date of the 1623 First Folio.
This clearly states that Shakespeare was dead.
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