The Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy
The Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy arby BCOM/275
March 20, 2012
The Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy
William Shakespeare was one of the most popular playwrights in history. With 38 plays, 154 sonnets and many other poems, Shakespeare’s work has been performed around the world more often than any other playwright. One gentleman, Hank Whittemore, created a blog that is strictly related to the notion that William Shakespeare was a pen-name of Edward De Vere who was the Earl of Oxford from 1550 to 1604. To many, this is an outlandish claim and is considered a conspiracy theory. His monthly blog continues to be filled with a narrow history lesson lined with an unpopular opinion.
Interesting But Not Creditable
Whittemore states, “It’s true that for twenty-three years I’ve been studying the life of Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604) as the author of the “Shakespeare” works, but I never considered myself a “conspiracy nut” in any way. First of all I notice that it’s an opinion apparently held by a lot of otherwise rational, fair individuals. “Hey, you don’t think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare? You must be one of those conspiracy minded whackos!” I’ve seen this opinion expressed so often in so many books and blogs and it’s been repeated so often that it must be true, right? No, I speak here for myself”. (H. Whittemore, 2012) His blog is very extensive going back to November of 2008 and he appears to have followers according to the comments left at the bottom of the blogs. Analyzing the validity of the data used by Whittmore, it appears that he is very knowledgeable and could be considered an expert on the history of this time period. As much content as Whittmore blogs on his site, it still appears one-dimensional and has a “fake” feel to it. His credibility comes into question because he doesn’t even place a biography on his site. There is no mention of what he does for a living or where he
March 20, 2012
The Shakespeare Authorship Conspiracy
William Shakespeare was one of the most popular playwrights in history. With 38 plays, 154 sonnets and many other poems, Shakespeare’s work has been performed around the world more often than any other playwright. One gentleman, Hank Whittemore, created a blog that is strictly related to the notion that William Shakespeare was a pen-name of Edward De Vere who was the Earl of Oxford from 1550 to 1604. To many, this is an outlandish claim and is considered a conspiracy theory. His monthly blog continues to be filled with a narrow history lesson lined with an unpopular opinion.
Interesting But Not Creditable
Whittemore states, “It’s true that for twenty-three years I’ve been studying the life of Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604) as the author of the “Shakespeare” works, but I never considered myself a “conspiracy nut” in any way. First of all I notice that it’s an opinion apparently held by a lot of otherwise rational, fair individuals. “Hey, you don’t think Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare? You must be one of those conspiracy minded whackos!” I’ve seen this opinion expressed so often in so many books and blogs and it’s been repeated so often that it must be true, right? No, I speak here for myself”. (H. Whittemore, 2012) His blog is very extensive going back to November of 2008 and he appears to have followers according to the comments left at the bottom of the blogs. Analyzing the validity of the data used by Whittmore, it appears that he is very knowledgeable and could be considered an expert on the history of this time period. As much content as Whittmore blogs on his site, it still appears one-dimensional and has a “fake” feel to it. His credibility comes into question because he doesn’t even place a biography on his site. There is no mention of what he does for a living or where he
References: Blogging Shakespeare (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2012, from (http://60- minutes.bloggingshakespeare.com/conference/ Hank Whittemore (2010). Retrieved March 19, 2012 from http://hankwhittemore. wordpress.com/2011/08/