Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was 8 years olde

1
Shakespeare Fact or Fiction?
Will the real Shakespeare please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up

• Long thought to be the most famous writer in
  history, there has been much debate as to whether
  Shakespeare existed at all

2
The Belief

• Shakespeare was born on the 23rd of April, 1564

• There is no record of anyone with this name
  having lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon- There is a
  single document that records the Christening of a
  Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakspere-No first e
  or second a

3
The Belief

• Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon,
  which is in
• ENGLAND!!!

• Stratford was a densely illiterate settlement,
  where 13 of 19 officials had to make their mark
  (an X) on important documents

4
The Belief

• Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was 8
  years older than him

• One day earlier, 27 November, 1582, William
  Shakespeare took out a license to marry a Miss
  Anne Whateley
• 6 months after his marriage to Hathaway,
  Shakespeare and she had a child, Susanna.
• They later had Judith and Hamnet, twins
• Hamnet died in childhood

5
The Belief

• Shakespeare wrote 36 plays and 154 sonnets
• The Sonnets were mostly addressed to
• A dark lady
• A young MAN!!!

• Aside from 6 signatures on legal documents,
  NOTHING exists in his own handwriting! No notes,
  notebooks, diaries, not even a single personal
  letter to anyone!

6
FURTHERMORE

• There are no existing admission or attendance
  records for Shakespeare at any grammar school,
  university, or college!
• (How would someone with no known education be
  able to write the most highly regarded works of
  literature of all time?)

7
The Belief

• Shakespeare is generally acknowledged as the
  greatest author who ever lived

• Shaksperes parents, wife and children were all
  completely illiterate!!!
• No one in Stratford ever referred to Shakspere as
  an author, playwright, poet, or literary figure
  of any kind!

8
The Belief

• "The Princesse, hearing of her mother's statue, a
  piece many yeeres in doing, and now newly
  perform'd by that rare Italian Master, Julio
  Romano."- Winters Tale,Act 5, Scene 2
• The author Vasari, in 1550 and again in 1568,
  described Romano as a sculptor-- on both
  occasions in Italian, not in English.

• No evidence exists that Will Shakspere could read
  Italian or had ever travelled abroad.

9
Shakespeare was an actor

• There are numerous mentions of Richard Burbage, a
  primary actor for Shakespeares works

• Although Shakespeare spent 20 years in London,
  England, there is NOT A SINGLE MENTION of ANYONE
  EVER seeing Shakespeare in the flesh!!!

10
Most of Shakespeares works were performed in the
GLOBE theatre

• Was burnt down in 1613 during a performance of
  Henry VIII

• A spark from a cannon shot during the performance
  set fire to the roof!
• Was rebuilt in 1614
• Was closed in 1642 by Puritans who felt the
  theatre promoted sinful living

11
Shakespeare died

• On the same day that he was born, 23rd April, in
  1616

• He left his wife his second-best bed
• His will never mentioned ANYTHING about BOOKS,
  PLAYS, POEMS, or WRITTEN WORK OF ANY KIND!!!