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I think Oxford wrote Shakespeare. If you
don’t agree, there are some awfully funny
coincidences to explain away…
Orson Welles
I am… haunted by the conviction that
the divine William is the biggest and
most successful fraud ever practiced
on a patient world.
Henry James
Welcome to the updated Shakespeare Oxford Society website.
If you’re new to the Shakespeare authorship debate, fasten your seat belt! You’re in for a wild and entertaining ride.
If you’ve been following this intriguing and important topic for some time, we hope you’ll find our updated website both informative and enjoyable. If you’re not already a member of the Society, we invite you to join (Join Online link).
Our Board of Trustees (Link to Board Members List) recently adopted the following mission statement:
The Shakespeare Oxford Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to exploring the Shakespeare authorship question and researching the evidence that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550 – 1604) is the true author of the poems and plays of “William Shakespeare.”
That statement lays it out pretty clearly. We believe there is a Shakespeare authorship question and we think it deserves to be explored. In fact, we issued a press release (Link to See Release) calling on traditional Shakespeare scholars to produce a “non-fiction” biography of “William Shakespeare.”
We’re also committed to researching the evidence linking Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, to the plays and poems of “William Shakespeare.” There is already a mountain of circumstantial evidence available, but much more research and exploration is needed. We call on the scholarly community, on foundations and other funding sources, and on the media to support more research into the both the authorship question generally and into the case for Oxford in particular.
Why Bother?
Some people argue that it doesn’t matter who wrote the plays and poems of “William Shakespeare.” We have the works, after all. Let’s just be grateful and enjoy them.
There’s no question that we should enjoy the works. But there are at least four compelling reasons to get the authorship right.
1) The Search for Truth. Accuracy about the author is an important value in and of itself. That’s what real scholarship should be about. Finding the truth for the sake of finding the truth. That should be enough motivation for any scholar worthy of the name.
2) Another key reason for searching: This is an inherently fascinating topic. It’s a centuries-old literary mystery of the first order. If for no other reason, we should be intrigued enough to get to the bottom of this mystery. How could this misattribution happen? Was it purposeful fraud? If so, why? What’s behind this effort to mislead? What was the nature and the extent of the apparent deception? Who was involved? Inquiring minds should want to know.
3) A third reason for curiosity and continued digging concerns basic fairness. If the wrong person has been given credit for the immortal works of “Shakespeare,” simple justice demands that we correct this mistake and give credit where credit is due.
4) Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there’s the self-interest reason: Knowing the identity and the real-life biography of the true author will enhance our understanding and appreciation of the plays and poems themselves. What was the author really trying to say? What was his underlying motivation for writing what he did? Do the characters and the plots reveal secrets and offer insights into the behavior and policies of powerful people in England and in other countries of Europe? Knowing the identity of the author could help to unlock the mysteries of what “Shakespeare” was trying to communicate.
On that last point, most traditional scholars have lamented the fact that the standard biography of “William Shakespeare” presents us with major disconnect between the life of the presumed author and his creative output. It’s almost as if we have a disembodied body of works with little or no relationship to a living author.
Consider this famous observation from a leading “orthodox” scholar named Samuel Schoenbaum:
“Perhaps we should despair of ever bridging the vertiginous expanse between the sublimity of the subject and the mundane inconsequence of the documentary record.” [Emphasis added]
This Society is dedicated to bridging that expanse. We want to resolve Shakespeare’s identity crisis and, at long last, afford the true author the honor and recognition he so richly deserves. We invite you to join us in this wondrous and exciting journey of discovery.
Many thanks for visiting our site and for your interest in this fascinating subject.
