TODAY ARRIVES

William Shakespeare

Samuel Clemens remarked that William Shakespeare could not have written the plays and other literary works attributed to him because he demonstrated a knowledge of Italy that could not be acquired by someone who had never traveled there.  The flaw in this logic is that William Shakespeare might very well have traveled there.

Nothing is known about his whereabouts from the time he was Christened, shortly after his birth, and his marriage to Anne Hathaway, eighteen years later, and it is hard to imagine that he dutifully began to learn the glove-making trade after graduating from grammar school.  (He obviously knew much more than what he was likely to learn at Kings New School -- a free grammar school a quarter mile from his home.

He needn't have acquired his vast fund of knowledge learned at a University, as I will demonstrate.  Suppose the grammar school had recommended that he should go on to a University after his graduation, as seems likely.  It is easy to imagine that his father said, "No, he is my only son, and I will teach him to make fine gloves."  And the next morning he crept out of the house and joined a theatrical company.

Boy actors who could play in female roles were in high demand, because women and girls were forbidden to play on the stage, and no doubt a boy with Shakespeare's great talent could quickly land a job in the theatre.

But then, if he did not attend a University and did not visit Italy, how did he become so learned and familiar with Italy?

Edward de Vere

On the basis of his style of writing and his vocabulary it has been suggested that Edward de Vere might have written William Shakespeare's supposed works.  But suppose William Shakespeare caught de Vere' eye while the boy was playing a female role on a stage.  It is known that Edward deVere was attracted to young boys, and de Vere (who might very well have sponsored the entertainment) might have snatched the boy from the stage company and installed him in his own household.

Living in close proximity with William de Vere for a year or more before his teen years, and exposed to the books in de Vere's possession and accompanying this excellent tutor for over a year as the two of them traveled in Italy and elsewhere on the Continent could easily account for Shakespeare's vast fund of knowledge -- among the books in de Vere's possession, quite likely, were a Geneva Bible, a book of Chaucer's tales, collected writings of Plutarch (the Greek and Roman philosopher) and books that were written in the Italian vernacular.  So much for William Shakespeare's education and knowledge of Italy.

Parting of the ways

The two eventually returned to England, Shakespeare having enjoyed the trip more than de Vere, and they parted company as William Shakespeare returned to the stage with a head full of ideas that went far beyond those of the young boy who had been snatched from the stage by de Vere.

On his return Shakespeare began editing scripts, and soon it became clear that everything he touched turned to gold.  By the time he was eighteen his earnings were sufficient for him to travel frequently to his family home, paying his traveling expenses out of income from the theatrical company.

On one such trip to Stratford-upon-Avon he managed to impregnate a woman who was eight years his senior.  When he returned home a couple of months later and learned that the lady was desperate a wedding was arranged in some haste and six months later she bore him a daughter.  Two years after that, Ann Hathaway gave birth to twins -- a boy and a girl.

Shakespeare surely loved his children, but his source of funds was in London, so it is doubtful that he spent very much time at Stratford-upon-Avon.  He was obviously diligent, and he made wise investments, so he accumulated great wealth, and with this wealth he purchased a much grander house, also in Stratford-upon-Avon -- where his wife and his favorite daughter Susanna preferred to live.  And he himself retired to that house in his final years.

Meanwhile, the vast estates inherited by Edward de Vere slowly evaporated throughout his lifetime, largely as a result of his own carelessness and poor judgement.