Why is shakespeare an enigma

My Playlists Deutsch. Login Register. My Playlists. Coproductions Fiction Documentaries Children. International ZDFE. Animation Live Action. One perspective only a few have seriously investigated is the matter of authorship.

We all have our own impressions of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon; but if we take the evidence of the plays themselves, these impressions are very difficult to fit the man we then encounter. The writer of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets was a man not only of his time, but of particularly broad experience.

He was deeply immersed in the religious and political struggles of the day, exceptionally well-versed in law, diplomacy, the Court, and classical literature, and he was apparently widely travelled. He had a good ear for music, understood the science of gardening, and had more of an interest in metaphysical wisdom than we often realise. Shakespeare the actor also seems to have been regarded with strange suspicion by his contemporaries, until after he died at least.

Through his illuminating and detailed study of the plays and the hints they contain about the author, Peter Dawkins guides us down a fascinating trail, following clues that the writer himself may have wanted us to uncover, centuries later. One example is the curious phrase, 'both your poets', in Sonnet 83, and along with other such conundrums this is discussed on a number of levels.

The monuments and eulogies to Shakespeare are profoundly enigmatic, too. The more seriously the clues are understood, the better the plays sit in their historical, political, religious and philosophical context.

Peter then comes to startling and original conclusions as to the true idenitity of the author of Shakespeare's works. Like any good investigation, this book is compendious in its presentation of evidence and copiously illustrated.

It will appeal to all literary-minded people, those interested in esoteric wisdom, and anyone involved in arts education. The Shakespeare Enigma also ties in well with modern attempts to strip away conventions that scholarship has imposed and understood better how Elizabethans and Jacobeans regarded theatre. One of the fascinating things about the Shakespeare plays is that they are full of enigmas and situations that are not what they at first appear to be-at least, not to the characters in each play.

Take, for instance, The Winter's Tale. Hermione appears to die and be dead for sixteen long years. Leontes, her husband, whose jealousy is the direct cause of her apparent death, is sure that this is so.

Their baby girl has, by his command, been taken away to be murderously disposed of-or so he believes. His jealousy is caused by what he conceived to be an affair between his wife and their old friend, Polixenes, the king of Bohemia, whom he erroneously concluded was the father of the child. But he is wrong on all counts. The child, Perdita, survives and, aged sixteen, returns home, betrothed to Polixenes' son, although she does not know her own true parentage.

In a dramatic finale of the play, Hermione awakes, alive, having only been seemingly dead, and all is then revealed as it really is and was. Much Ado About Nothing shows how easily men can be duped and made to believe something that is completely wrong, and leading to actions by them that are absolutely wrong, by a simple trick of deception.

The prince of Aragon, Don Pedro, together with his friend Claudio and Leonarto, governor of Messina, are totally convinced that Leonarto's daughter, Hero, has been unfaithful on her wedding night. They viciously accuse her in church, at a crucial moment in the wedding ceremony. Walsingham convinced Elizabeth to infiltrate Catholic Europe with a spy network, and recruited Marlowe. Amid rumors of collaboration with Catholics in France, Cambridge denied his degree.

Walsingham convinced Elizabeth to pressure Cambridge to reward Marlowe's degree. Marlowe's hedonistic lifestyle and heretical ideas could have been interpreted as treasonous. Renaissance playwrights collaborated on works; he may have helped Shakespeare write plays.

An informant denounced him for atheism; the Privy Council charged him with treason. Thomas Kyd confessed under torture. Marlowe became a liability to Thomas Walsingham and allegedly died during a pub fight. The anonymous poem "Venus and Adonis" appeared shortly after; published under Shakespeare's name. Experts argue that Marlowe's death was a cover-up. Thomas Walsingham staged Marlowe's death at Elizabeth Bull's safe house; a treasonous priest's corpse was used as his body.

He escaped England and may have hid in Venice. Several sonnets reference exile. Some historians believe Marlowe returned to England after Elizabeth's death. He would have sent manuscripts to Shakespeare via Thomas Walsingham. Letters surfaced in the 19th century claiming Marlowe lived in Padua until ; they have since disappeared.

Young boys performed women's roles. Shakespeare was never in Italy; some historians believe Italian artists authored his works. Shakespeare was not mentioned in Philip Henslowe's diary describing costume and prop expenses. Shakespeare's group opened the Globe Theater in ; learn about a film production examining his mysterious identity. No poems, plays, or letters exist in Shakespeare's handwriting; his contemporaries left paper trails. In , he returned to Stratford as a businessman.

His will contains no writing materials. Shakespeare died in ; an early monument shows him holding a wool sack, rather than writing materials. Ben Johnson's eulogy was written seven years later.