Main Menu
Plays Sonnets Poems Notes  
Index   

Conclusion on the evidence
 
pdf version

There is strong if not overwhelming evidence that Shakespeare was involved with The Globe theatre and involved with the plays that were performed there and elsewhere.
Is there definite proof that Shakespeare wrote the plays?
 
To answer this I think is useful to think about justice that is made in a court of law.
We let someone off if there is "reasonable doubt" and convict if "beyond reasonable doubt" they are guilty.
If Shakespeare were alive and defending in court someone claiming that they wrote the plays instead would Shakespeare win in court? Yes!
 
Even if we have all the plays in Shakespeare own hand writing this would not be definite proof as first we would need to prove that it was Shakespeare's hand writing and then how do we know he did not copy this from someone else's work, or that someone dictated to him what to write?
Almost anything is possible, but is this likely?
It is possible that say Charles Dickens did not write any of his work but had a ghost writer that wrote it all for him.
That may be he was just the "figurehead" pretending to be the writer for someone else's work. Although possible, most people would agree it is very unlikely.
 
From the evidence we know that during Shakespeare's lifetime some people thought Shakespeare wrote his work, and that unless there was some sort of conspiracy between Condell, Hemings, and Ben Jonson they too believed Shakespeare wrote his work.
And importantly there is no record that during Shakespeare's lifetime anyone said or wrote they thought that someone wrote Shakespeare's work other than Shakespeare.
 
It is possible that more of Shakespeare's work was written as some sort of collaboration than is known.
It is generally accepted that some of the scenes of some of the plays were largely or completely the work of others.
And including these qualifications, we believe that beyond reasonable doubt that Shakespeare wrote all of the 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
 
 
Ben Jonson'e poem To the Memory of My Beloved
Sir William Davenant's poem In Remembrance of Master William Shakespeare
 
Baptismal record
Marriage record
Property records
Legal and Tax records
Heraldic records
Stratford-upon-Avon Council records
Theatre and acting records
Letters record
The six signatures of Shakespeare
Other evidence
Record of death
Will record
First Folio Introduction
First Folio Dedication
Evidence of Shakespeare's life etc
 
Shakespeare connections
 

    Return to top
Main Menu
Plays Sonnets Poems Notes  
Index