Shakespeare Authorship Question

Leesan Kwok            Kwok 1
Paul Megna
English 15 Shakespeare
18 August 2014
Research Paper: Sorry, Shakespeare is Not Italian
From Oscar Wilde to Mark Twain to Stanley Wells, the Shakespeare authorship
controversy has been an ongoing debate among scholars. Some believe Edward de Vere, the
fourth Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare’s plays; some believe Christopher Marlowe faked his
death and continued to publish plays under the name of Shakespeare; Martino Iuvara, a retired
professor of literature at the University of Palmero even claimed that Shakespeare is actually of
Sicilian origin. However the most convincing candidate is John Florio.  Some scholars that
believe that Florio, the first man to translate Michel de Montaigne’s works into English,
wrote Shakespeare’s works. While there is room to speculate Shakespeare’s authorship due
to the incompleteness of Shakespeare’s history, there is enough evidence for both
Shakespeare and Florio that indicate they lead separate lives of their own and achieved in
different areas of literature.
William Shakespeare undeniably existed in StratfordUponAvon between 1564 and
1616.  As compiled in Diana Price’s  Shakespeare’s Unorthodox Biography , there are official
records of his baptism in StratfordUponAvon as “Gulielmus [Latin for William]
Shakspere”(14), his marriage to Anne Hathaway of Shottery, lawsuits regarding loans, his
involvement in theatre as a shareholder and actor, his citation in StratfordUponAvon for
hoarding grain during a famine, his coat of arms, his investment in tithes, his last will and

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testament, and his death.  However, there are no records that associate the great playwright with
his own plays there are no records that specify payment to Shakespeare as a playwright, and
Shakespeare did not mention any plays in his will either.  The lack of evidence that Shakespeare
received an education does not explain Shakespeare’s sophisticated style of writing and
references to the classics in his play.  There was a lack of recognition of Shakespeare as a
successful playwright during Shakespeare’s time in Stratford Upon Avon.  But Robert Greene’s
criticism, “for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart
wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of
you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shakescene in a
countrey,” is recognition of Shakespeare’s existence in the world of drama.  Shakespeare’s
references to Italian culture, customs, and language cannot be explained by his education or
travels either, and thirteen of thirty eight Shakespeare plays take place, or partly take place in
Italy (da Mosto). Such references in Shakespeare’s text lead some scholars to conclude that
Shakespeare is in fact Italian, either born as Michelangelo Florio Crollalanza of Sicily, or of
Italian origin but extensively educated in Germany and England, John Florio.
Despite all the “holes” in Shakespeare’s historical life that leave room for doubt for the
authorship of his plays, there is evidence that Shakespeare was a recognized member of the
drama society and the writer of his own plays.  But until the day Shakespeare jumps out of his
grave to clarify the authorship of the plays, the authorship controversy will remain a topic of
debate among scholars.

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Shakespeare’s education at King Edward VI School, the grammar school in
StratfordUponAvon is unconfirmed.  However, as the son of the alderman John Shakespeare,
William may have received education under the care of the StratfordUponAvon government
(Mabillard).  At King Edward’s, Shakespeare would have been exposed to Latin and Greek
Plato, Ovid, Erasmus, Horace and the likes (Baynes).  But an unfortunate turn of financial events
in the Shakespeare household lead to William’s withdrawal from school at the mere age of
thirteen.  Ben Jonson’s  To The Memory of my Beloved, The Author, Mr. William Shakespeare,
and What He Hath Left Us  recognizes Shakespeare’s lack of extensive education background,
“And though thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek,” he outshined his peer writers.
Jonson’s account of Shakespeare is relatively reliable because there is evidence that
Shakespeare and Jonson have worked with each other before.  The cast list listed Shakespeare as
a “principall Tragoedian” in Jonson’s play,  Sejanus his Fall , as part of the performance
company, the King’s Men (Ayres).
The question regarding Shakespeare’s identity arises: How do we know if the William
Shakespeare of StratfordUponAvon is the same Shakespeare as the one in the King’s Men?
Surely “William” is a common Christian name and “Shakespeare” a common last name.
When Peter Brooke, the York Herald drew up a list of people he believed were not
entitled to bear arms, Shakespeare was fourth on the list.  Under the sketch of Shakespeare’s coat

of arms is the caption, “Shakespear ye Player by Garter” (Reedy, Kathman), identifying
Shakespeare as a Stratford man that had an acting career.  Another evidence that Shakespeare the
drama man existed in StratfordUpon Avon is that Shakespeare’s last will and testament that was
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drawn up by Warwickshire (the shire that StratfordUponAvon is located in) lawyer, Francis
Collins, Shakespeare left “my fellows John Hemings, Richard Burbage, and Henry Condell
[actors and shareholders of the King’s Men theatre company], 26 s. 8 d. a piece to buy them
rings.” In addition, Shakespeare and his family is buried in the Holy Trinity Church in
StratfordUponAvon, a right that Shakespeare obtained by buying an expensive tithe deed.
Shakespeare alludes to the geography, language, culture, and customs of Italy in thirteen
of his plays, but it is insufficient evidence to conclude that Florio wrote Shakespeare. Some of
Shakespeare’s Italian allusions, especially that of geographic allusions, are inaccurate.  In  Two
Gentlemen of Verona,  Shakespeare depicts Valentina as travelling from Verona to Milan by sea:
“Once more adieu! My father at the road /Expects me coming, there to see me shipp’d”
(I.i.5354); In  The Tempest , Prospero embarks a ship at the gates of Milan: “In few, they hurried
us aboard a bark, /Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepared /A rotten carcass of a boat,
not rigg'd,/ Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; the very rats /...To cry to the sea that roar'd to us, to sigh
/To the winds whose pity, sighing back again,/ Did us but loving wrong” (I.ii.140151), when in
fact Verona and Milan are both inland territories.  Based on the errors that Shakespeare made
regarding Italian geography, it is fair to conclude that “Shakespeare did not gather his knowledge
of Northern Italy from personal Observation” (Lee) since the nearest waterways near Milan and
Verona are rivers, and Shakespeare depicts the ports of Milan and Verona as sea ports.

Shakespeare could have derived his knowledge of Italy from detailed accounts of sailors and
travellers, such as a chaplain’s diary,  The Pylgrymage of Syr R. Guylforde, Knight, to the Holy
Land, A.D 1506 . According to M.P. Tilley, author of  Shakespeare and Italian Geography ,

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“Valentine’s course so far as it coincided with Sir Guylforde’s river trip reversed the direction of
travel,” and concludes that “Shakespeare’s knowledge of the practice in sixteenth century Italy of
travelling considerable distances by inland water routes was, as we see, accurate; and was gained
in all probability, not from visiting Italy himself, but by the accounts of English travellers.” The
paronomasia on Miranda’s name (which means “admire” in Italian) that Shakespeare makes,
“Admired Miranda!/ Indeed the top of admiration!” (III.i.37) illustrates Shakespeare’s habit of
playing with words, but it does not demonstrate any proficiency in the Italian language, since
“Miranda” is derived from the Latin word, “mirandus,” which means “admirable, wonderful.”
And assuming that Shakespeare has at least a basic level (if not more) of understanding in Latin
from grammar school, the paronomasia on “Miranda” is not of great linguistic indication.
On the topic of references, one must acknowledge Shakespeare’s references to Michel de
Montaigne’s ideas and text.  Shakespeare explicitly alluded to Montaigne’s essay,  On Cannibals ,
in Gonzalo’s utopian speech in  The Tempest . Shakespeare alludes to other Montaigne’s ideas
such as close friendships between males as seen in  The Merchant of Venice  and  Twelfth Night ,
and the relationship between father and his children as seen in  King Lear .  This is not to say that
Shakespeare’s allusions are evidence that Florio wrote Shakespeare, because it was very
common for Renaissance writers to create versions of imitatio of other writers’ works. In fact,

Shakespeare did not create most of his plots. Shakespeare most likely knew of Montaigne by
reading John Florio’s 1603 English translation of Montaigne’s  Les Essais .  Some scholars
believe that Florio and Shakespeare were acquaintances, thereby exchanged ideas and discussed
Montaigne.  It is a tempting idea that Florio wrote Shakespeare: Florio was of AngloItalian
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origin, was well read and well educated, which led to his appointment as a tutor in French and
Italian in Magdalen College, Oxford.  He was closely acquainted with the Earl of Pembroke,
William Herbert, who is one candidate of the alleged mysterious “Mr. W.H.” which some
Shakespeare sonnets are addressed to.  Florio also lived some years with Henry Wriothesley, the
third Earl of Southampton, who is another candidate for Shakespeare’s “Mr. W.H.,” and the
patron of Shakespeare.  Considering the timeline that Florio is twelve years senior to
Shakespeare and outlived Shakespeare, his education background, his social relations, and his
education, Florio’s profile is a compelling candidate for the author of Shakespeare’s works.  But
Florio achieved on his own distinctively. He translated all of Michel de Montaigne’s essays and
published an Italian and English dictionary,  A World of Words , in multiple editions, and was a
personal tutor to nobility and a spy to the court. In addition, the geographical errors that
Shakespeare made when writing about Italy would not have occurred if Florio had written
Shakespeare’s plays because Florio was on a mission to “elevate the English language and the
culture of England above its rivals” (Tassinari) and educate the barbaric English the European
ways of polished manners and speech. As an AngloItalian, Florio would not dare disgrace his
own heritage by making basic geographical errors in his writing.

Even though Shakespeare and Florio’s social circles overlapped each other, they both led
distinctly different lives and achieved in different areas that contributed to literature.
While Shakespeare is not buried with the deemed influential authors Chaucer, Jonson
etc at Westminster Abbey, his influence on the English language is far reaching and flourished
after his death, more so than other authors.

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Shakespeare was not the most prominent author in his days. He was outshined by rival
playwright Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Shakespeare’s purpose of writing plays
appeared to be profit oriented. Immediately following the success of Marlowe’s  Jew of Malta
that featured a Machiavellian Jew, Shakespeare wrote  The Merchant of Venice  which also
featured a complicated Jewish character. In  Macbeth , the weird sisters told Banquo his sons will
become kings, which appeals to James I’s belief that he is a distant descendent of Banquo. Also
in  Macbeth , the weird sisters are portrayed as disgusting creaturelike witches, appealing to
James I’s hatred of witches. Shakespeare’s allusions to current events also indicates that he wrote
the plays for profit to appeal to the audience. In  Macbeth , Shakespeare alludes to the coin that
was pressed to commemorate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot and to Henry Garnet the
equivocator. The Gunpowder Plot was the news of the decade, so allusions to it would surely
attract an audience. But this is not to say that his is famous only after his death, because after all,
Queen Elizabeth saw his plays, and James I chartered the King’s Men.
However, Shakespeare is made more available than his fellow playwrights after his death.
The First Folio, which was compiled by Shakespeare’s fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry

Condell, was revised for a second and third edition, whereas Ben Jonson’s selfpublished folio
was only reprinted once after his death.
Shakespeare’s plays have inspired a multitude of derivative works paintings, ballets,
dramas, movie adaptations, operas he has a fanbase even after almost four hundred after his
death. His works are staples in English and literature curriculums around the world and theatre
companies. Shakespeare’s language is challenging to modern readers, but once understood, one

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could not help but admire the wit of a supposedly mediocrely educated man who caught the eye
of monarchs while selling grain as a side business.

Bibliography
Mabillard, Amanda. "Timeline of Shakespeare's Life and Works."  Timeline of Shakespeare's Life
and Works . Shakespeare Online, 20 Aug. 2000. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Alchin, Linda. "The First Folio."  The First Folio . N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Mabillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare's Education and Childhood." Shakespeare's Education and
Childhood . Shakespeare Online, 12 Sept. 2000. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Morreale, Giovanni. "Was Shakespeare Sicilian? Crollalanza...? Times of Sicily."  Times of
Sicily . Times of Sicily, 1 Mar. 2012. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Dupuy, Paul J., Jr. "William Shakspere Documentary Evidence."  William Shakspere
Documentary Evidence . N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
"Richard Quiney."  Richard Quiney . Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Dupuy, Paul J., Jr. "William Shakspere's Will."  William Shakspere's Will . N.p., n.d. Web. 08
Sept. 2014.
Mabillard, Amanda. "The Second Best Bed All About Shakespeare's Will." The Second Best
Bed All About Shakespeare's Will . Shakespeare Online, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Baynes, Thomas S. "Shakespeare's School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read in Grade School?"
Shakespeare's School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read in Grade School?  Shakespeare Online,
20 Aug. 2000. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.
Da Mosto, Francesco. "Shakespeare's Italy."  BBC Travel . BBC, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. 08 Sept.
2014.
Tilley, M. P. "Shakespeare and Italian Geography."  The Journal of English and Germanic
Philology  16.3 (1917): 45455.  JSTOR . Web. 08 Sept. 2014.

Knowles, James.  The Nineteenth Century and After . Vol. LXIV. London: Spottiswoode and
Printers, 1908. Print.
Bowler, Bill, Andy Parker, and William Shakespeare.  The Tempest . Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.
Print.
Michel De Montaigne: The Complete Essays . London, England: Penguin, 1993. Print.
Shapiro, James S.  Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?  New York: Simon & Schuster,
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