I’ve long been convinced that William Shakespeare of Stratford lacked the education and life experience to write the plays and poems attributed to him.
As an outsider to the field, I wonder what are the specific reasons to put aside the possibility that Shakespeare's works have been a joint 'project' of two or several creative individuals.
The reasons are fairly obvious. And in such a scheme, the true answer can include both Edward de Vere as well as Francis Bacon.
The idea of joint authorship is sometimes floated and could be true. Almost every possibility has been suggested at one time or another. The problem with Bacon and de Vere as collaborators is that there's no evidence they had any personal relationship. For most of his life, Bacon was a middle-class attorney, far below the status of the powerful Earl of Oxford. But I take no sides.
This page talks briefly about the group authorship idea:
Yes, there have been non-noble candidates, or candidates at the lowest rank of nobility. The most plausible contender, IMO, is Sir Thomas North, who was knighted relatively late in life. He grew up in affluence but inherited nothing and eventually was in such dire financial straits that his town voted to provide him with a very modest stipend. See Dennis McCarthy's Substack for arguments pertaining to North.
Most of the candidates were of high birth, because the main objection to William of Stratford is that he lacked the education and life experience reflected in the plays. It is difficult to see how he could have written Love's Labours Lost, for instance - an insider's satire on the ambassadorial mission to the Court of Navarre, which took place while Will was still a young boy in Stratford.
With regard to Bacon's legalistic writings, keep in mind that his poetry was written in a very different vein. Only a few of his poems survive, including verse translations of some Psalms, which he published late in life. The quality of these poems is open to debate; Daphne du Maurier was embarrassed by them, but I rather like them.
However, I don’t really think Bacon was Shakespeare. The Northian case seems all but definitive to me.
As an outsider to the field, I wonder what are the specific reasons to put aside the possibility that Shakespeare's works have been a joint 'project' of two or several creative individuals.
The reasons are fairly obvious. And in such a scheme, the true answer can include both Edward de Vere as well as Francis Bacon.
The idea of joint authorship is sometimes floated and could be true. Almost every possibility has been suggested at one time or another. The problem with Bacon and de Vere as collaborators is that there's no evidence they had any personal relationship. For most of his life, Bacon was a middle-class attorney, far below the status of the powerful Earl of Oxford. But I take no sides.
This page talks briefly about the group authorship idea:
https://www.shakespeareauthorship.org/group-theory
Number one on this list is the group authorship idea, with Bacon at the head of the group:
https://listverse.com/2019/04/03/10-shakespeare-authorship-theories-that-will-surprise-you/
Yes, there have been non-noble candidates, or candidates at the lowest rank of nobility. The most plausible contender, IMO, is Sir Thomas North, who was knighted relatively late in life. He grew up in affluence but inherited nothing and eventually was in such dire financial straits that his town voted to provide him with a very modest stipend. See Dennis McCarthy's Substack for arguments pertaining to North.
Most of the candidates were of high birth, because the main objection to William of Stratford is that he lacked the education and life experience reflected in the plays. It is difficult to see how he could have written Love's Labours Lost, for instance - an insider's satire on the ambassadorial mission to the Court of Navarre, which took place while Will was still a young boy in Stratford.
With regard to Bacon's legalistic writings, keep in mind that his poetry was written in a very different vein. Only a few of his poems survive, including verse translations of some Psalms, which he published late in life. The quality of these poems is open to debate; Daphne du Maurier was embarrassed by them, but I rather like them.
However, I don’t really think Bacon was Shakespeare. The Northian case seems all but definitive to me.