Michael A. Harding

Actor with the Utah Shakespeare Festival

Associate Professor of Theatre

Dixie State College, Utah

 

The question of authorship regarding the Shakespeare Canon is as pervasive in multiple cultures as the questions of Jack the Ripper and The Illuminati. Who was Jack the Ripper? Does the Illuminati truly hold the reins of the world? Theories and conspiracy abound, but the questions themselves have become so wrapped in their own mythos that a definitive answer has been rendered impotent. Such is the question of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon.

Personally, I see no reason that the plays attributed to William Shakespeare could not have been written by him. We know that playwrights collaborated, so most certainly there were other hands in their creation, but there is no credible, definitive argument to prove William Shakespeare was not the Bard we know. There are assertions that a man of Shakespeare's background could never have had the breadth of knowledge demonstrated in the scripts that exist. Codswallop, I say. Not only did he have an education that would have nicely supplemented the plays, but also dwelled in the hub of commerce, London, allowing him access to many diverse minds of varied expertise. Being in the business of theatre would have made him privy to stories and variations galore. With but a modicum of ingenuity and cleverness, a man such as William Shakespeare would have no trouble whatsoever of creating the Canon as we know it today.

There will always be speculation about the authorship of his Canon. Perhaps we should think of this as his final work, incomplete and never to be successfully laid to rest. Regardless of any answer, any proof of any level of credibility, the legend and myth of William Shakespeare will always prevail, continued for centuries through the Shakespeare Canon.

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