Was William Shakespeare an historical personage, or a fictional character in a symbolic story?

Sir Walter ("Time's Fool," "The Fox," etc.) was quite the wild and self promoting character (and royal arse kisser, too) but he was definitely not William Shakespeare.

Bess (his good wife) kept his head -- mummified -- for many years in a leather bag, speaking to it at times (poor Bess -- she lived to be an old crone and was completely traumatized by Walter's death as well as being displaced from their home and estate, which was rightfully hers).

Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to prove this; it's just one of those things I happen to "know."

I believe that William Shakespeare collaborated with others in the writing of the plays, but Sir Walter wasn't among them (although everyone who was anyone knew each other in those days). I also believe there is a channelled (maybe "inspired" would be a more appropriate term) component to the plays, something else I have no way to prove.

I have often wondered where we might be now had Sir Walter popularized and promoted cannabis, not tobacco....

Bill I.

William Shakespeare is is just a fictional name given to the real author, and man of little means but great imagination. This guy was named, simply, Bill Shakespeare. This sorry guy was never given any respect, credit, never mind the monetary compensation. The entertainment industry just invented the fictional William, and they kept all the royalties.

----
don't let people drive you crazy, when it is within walking distance

Shakespeare is not a person but actually a variety of Patagonian mountain potato.

Not many people know that.

The plays, poems and other writings of the person who we have come to know as "William Shakespeare" were actually done by 10,000 monkeys with a typewriter each; hence the expression.

Hope this helps clarify things.

yer ol' pal,

Xibalba
(This post was brought to you by "Realm of the Dead")

http://hollowaypages.com/Shakespeareauth...

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?in...

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/will...

http://www.amazon.com/True-Face-William-...
Book Review
The True Face of William Shakespeare
Within his own lifetime, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was praised and revered as a writer of genius. By the late 1590s he had already reached a high point of his brilliant literary career in London and was considered to be in every way the equal of great classical figures shuch as Nestor, Socrates, or Virgil. Almost everyone had heard of Shakespeare. Many more had seen him on stage and knew what he looked like. Indeed, students at Oxford and Cambridge were fascinated by Shakespeare's works and hung his image on their walls. However, in the decades that followed, much of this visual knowledge was lost, not least as a result of the turmoil of the English Civil War in the seventeenth century. Uncertainty developed about the poset's physical appearance which has persisted to this day. Now Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-hummel conclusively dispels this uncertainty and reveals the true face of William Shakespeare. By combining exhaustive academic research with the latest technology, and collaborating over many years with specialists from the most varied disciplines (including forensic experts from the German Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation, doctors, physicists, 3D imaging engineers, archivists, and experts on art and literature), she has been able to prove the authenticity of the Darmstadt Shakespeare death mask and the Flower and Chandos portraits, as well as that of another, extraordinarily expressive image of Shakespeare: the Davenant bust (whose provenance can now be traced back to the early seventeenth century). In this groundbreaking book Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel offers a convincing solution to the centuries-old problem of the appearance and identity of William Shakespeare. She also answers previously open questions concerning the diseases the poet suffered from, why he abandoned his celebrated literary career prematurely, and what very probably caused his untimely death.

About the Author
PROFESSOR HILDEGARD HAMMERSCHMIDT-HUMMEL lectures in English Literature and Cultural studies at the University of Mainz, Germany. For three years she was head of the Department for Culture at the Consulate-General of Germany in Toronto. Her major publications include the study Das Geheimnis um Shakespeares ?Dark Lady? (The Secret of Shakespeare?s ?Dark Lady: Uncovering a Mystery), 1999, in which she identifies the mistress of Shakespeare?s sonnets; "What did Shakespeare Look Like? Authentic Portraits and the Death Mask: Methods and Results of the Tests of Authenticity", 2000; Die verborgene Existenz des William Shakespeare. Dichter und Rebell im katholischen Untergrund (The Secret Life of William Shakespeare: Poet and Rebel in the Catholic Underground), 2001, which resolves the question of Shakespeare?s religion; the three-volume work that appeared in 2003, Die Shakespeare-Illustration (1594-2000). Bildk?rische Darstellungen zu den Dramen William Shakespeares (Shakespearian Illustrations [1594-2000]. The Work of Artists on Shakespeare?s Plays), containing more than 3000 illustrations; William Shakespeare. Die authentischen Bildnisse (William Shakespeare. The Authentic Portraits), 2004; and the earlier German version of her Shakespeare biography, William Shakespeare. Seine Zeit - Sein Leben - Sein Werk (2003), which heavily draws on new historical and pictorial sources she has brought to light during a lifetime of Shakespearean study.

And this book review considers De Vere
http://www.amazon.com/Vere-As-Shakespear...

De Vere As Shakespeare: An Oxfordian Reading of the Canon (Paperback)

The question may be met with chagrin by traditionalists, but the identity of the Bard is not definitely decided. During the 20th century, Edward de Vere, the most flamboyant of the courtier poets, a man of the theater and literary patron, became the leading candidate for an alternative Shakespeare. This text presents the controversial argument for de Vere's authorship of the plays and poems attributed to Shakespeare, offering the available historical evidence and moreover the literary evidence to be found within the works. Divided into sections on the comedies and romances, the histories and the tragedies and poems, this fresh study closely analyzes each of the 39 plays and the sonnets in light of the Oxfordian authorship theory. The vagaries surrounding Shakespeare, including the lack of information about him during his lifetime, especially relating to the "lost years" of 1585 to 1592, are also analyzed, to further the question of Shakespeare's true identity and the theory of de Vere as the real Bard.

About the Author
A life-long Shakespeare hobbyist, William Farina is an executive with a national real estate consulting firm. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

-----------------------------Truth is stranger than fiction.