Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship facts for kids
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The Baconian theory suggests that Sir Francis Bacon, a famous philosopher, essayist, and scientist, actually wrote the plays that are publicly known as William Shakespeare's. People who believe this theory often say that Bacon kept his authorship a secret because being known as a playwright might have stopped him from getting important jobs in the government. So, they believe Shakespeare was just a public name used to hide Bacon's true identity.
Bacon was the first person suggested as the real author of Shakespeare's plays. This idea started in the mid-1800s. Supporters of the theory believed that Bacon's philosophical ideas matched those found in Shakespeare's works. They also claimed to find hidden messages and codes in the plays and poems. However, most experts on Shakespeare do not agree with the idea that Bacon, or any other alternative author, wrote the plays.
The Baconian theory was very popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But since the mid-1900s, other candidates, like Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, have become more popular among those who doubt Shakespeare's authorship. Even though most experts agree that Shakespeare wrote his own works, supporters of the Baconian theory still share their ideas through groups, books, and websites.
Contents
Who's Who: Baconians and Stratfordians
Sir Francis Bacon was an important English scientist, philosopher, and politician. He held high positions like Solicitor General and Lord Chancellor.
People who believe Bacon wrote Shakespeare's works call themselves "Baconians." Those who believe William Shakespeare of Stratford wrote his own works are called "Stratfordians."
The traditional author's name, William Shakespeare, was spelled in different ways during his lifetime. Baconians sometimes use "Shakspere" for the man from Stratford and "Shake-speare" for the author. This helps them show that they don't automatically assume the Stratford man wrote the famous works.
How the Baconian Theory Started
The idea that Bacon wrote Shakespeare's works first became known through Delia Bacon (who was not related to Francis Bacon). She shared her ideas in talks and discussions in America and Britain.
Then, William Henry Smith was the first to publish the theory in a pamphlet. He suggested that some letters to and from Francis Bacon hinted at his authorship. A year later, both Smith and Delia Bacon published books explaining the theory. Delia Bacon even suggested that "Shakespeare" was a group of writers, including Francis Bacon, who secretly put their ideas into the plays.
In 1867, a bundle of old documents was found that seemed to connect Bacon and Shakespeare. It had writings by Bacon and also appeared to have copies of some Shakespearean plays. On the cover, the names Bacon and Shakespeare were written many times. This discovery made people wonder even more about the connection between the two men.
Later, Constance Mary Fearon Pott studied Francis Bacon's notebook, called the Promus. She believed that many of Bacon's ideas and ways of speaking in his notebook could also be found in Shakespeare's plays. Pott started the Francis Bacon Society in 1885. She also suggested that Bacon was a founder of the Rosicrucians, a secret society of philosophers. She claimed they secretly created art and literature, including Shakespeare's plays.
Some Baconians believed that Bacon used a fake name because he needed to keep his important government job. They argued that being known as a playwright, which was seen as a lower-class job back then, would have hurt his career. They thought Bacon wanted to use his plays to share his ideas about good government with important people.
By the late 1800s, many famous people supported the Baconian theory, including Mark Twain and the mathematician Georg Cantor. In 1916, a judge in Chicago even ruled in a court case that Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare's works. However, this was the peak of the theory's popularity. Other possible authors were suggested, and academics did not accept any of these alternative theories.
Hidden Codes and Royal Secrets
In 1880, Ignatius L. Donnelly, a U.S. Congressman, wrote a book called The Great Cryptogram. He claimed that Bacon had hidden secret codes in the plays to reveal his authorship. This led to many other Baconians trying to find encoded messages in the works.
Later, Orville Ward Owen and Elizabeth Wells Gallup took these ideas further. Owen claimed to have found a secret history of the Elizabethan era hidden in Bacon/Shakespeare's works. He even suggested that Bacon was the son of Queen Elizabeth! According to Owen, Bacon's plays secretly told the story of his life as a hidden royal heir.
Elizabeth Wells Gallup continued Owen's ideas, claiming that a special "bi-literal cipher" in the First Folio of Shakespeare's works confirmed Bacon was the queen's son. In 1916, Gallup's supporter, George Fabyan, was sued by a film producer. The judge in the case decided that the ciphers Gallup found proved Francis Bacon was the author.
Orville Ward Owen was so sure of his cipher method that he started digging in the bed of the River Wye in 1909, looking for Bacon's original Shakespeare manuscripts. He never found anything, and the project ended when he died in 1924.
In 1957, two expert code-breakers, William and Elizebeth Friedman, studied all the ciphers that Baconians claimed to have found. They concluded that none of the ciphers were real or could have been used by the author of Shakespeare's works.
Why Some People Thought Bacon Was the Author
Early Baconians believed that Shakespeare's works showed an amazing level of intelligence. They thought that only someone like Francis Bacon, with his vast knowledge, could have written them. They pointed out that Bacon was a philosopher, a poet, a lawyer, and a statesman, which seemed to match the wide range of knowledge seen in the plays.
Baconians also argued that Shakespeare's works showed detailed scientific knowledge that only Bacon could have had. For example, they claimed that some parts of Coriolanus (published in 1623) seemed to mention the circulation of the blood. Bacon knew about this theory through his friend William Harvey, but it wasn't made public until after Shakespeare died in 1616.
However, those who disagree with the Baconian theory say that Shakespeare's knowledge was not as extraordinary as some believed. They argue that his works show the typical education of someone who attended a grammar school at that time. There is no record of anyone at the time calling Shakespeare a very learned writer. In fact, some of his friends mentioned his lack of classical learning.
Critics also point out that Shakespeare made many mistakes about ancient history and names in his plays. For example, in Troilus and Cressida, he has characters from ancient Greece and Troy talking about Plato and Aristotle, who lived a thousand years later. This suggests that the author might have learned about these things from common school books, not from deep scholarly study.
Additionally, opponents argue that Bacon's and Shakespeare's writing styles are very different. They used different words and phrases. For example, Bacon used "politiques" while Shakespeare used "politicians." This suggests they were two different writers.
Gray's Inn Performances (1594–95)
Gray's Inn, a law school, used to hold special events with plays performed by students. In 1594, the play The Comedy of Errors was performed there. Some Baconians believe that Francis Bacon was involved in writing this play because it was performed by law students, not professional actors.
However, records show that Shakespeare and his acting company were performing for the Queen at a different location on the same night. This makes it unlikely they were at Gray's Inn. Also, the Gray's Inn records don't show any payment to a playwright or professional acting group for this play. Baconians see this as a sign that the play was written and performed by the law students themselves.
There is also evidence that Bacon had some control over the Gray's Inn players. In a letter, he mentioned that "a dozen gentlemen of Gray's Inn that will be ready to furnish a masque" (a type of play). He was also described as the "chief contriver" of other performances at Gray's Inn.
Similarities in Words and Ideas
Gesta Grayorum
The Gesta Grayorum, a pamphlet about the Gray's Inn events, uses a phrase like "the greater lessens the smaller." This idea also appears in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice:
- "So doth the greater glory dim the less"
- "A substitute shines brightly as a King / Until a King be by, and then his state / Empties itself, as doth an inland brooke / Into the main of waters..."
This passage in Merchant of Venice uses the same theme and examples (a small light dimmed by a greater one, a small river flowing into a larger one) as the Gesta Grayorum. Francis Bacon also used similar examples in his own writings. Baconians point out that Bacon never mentioned Shakespeare in his works, even though he usually cited his sources.
Bacon's Notebook (Promus)
In the 1800s, a notebook belonging to Francis Bacon was found. It was called the Promus of Formularies and Elegancies and contained over 1,600 proverbs, metaphors, and sayings. Many of these were from other writers, but some were original.
Bacon's supporters found many similarities between phrases in this notebook and those in Shakespeare's plays. For example:
- In All's Well That Ends Well: "So I say both of Galen and Paracelsus"
- In Bacon's Promus: "Galens compositions not Paracelsus separations"
- In The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "Then may I set the world on wheels, when she can spin for her living"
- In Bacon's Promus: "Now toe on her distaff then she can spynne/The world runs on wheels"
- In Henry IV, Part 2: "O, that right should o'rcome might. Well of sufferance, comes ease"
- In Bacon's Promus: "Might overcomes right/Of sufferance cometh ease"
While some argue these were common phrases, Baconians believe it's unlikely for two ideas from the same Promus page to appear in the same Shakespeare speech by chance.
Published Works
There's an example in Troilus and Cressida that shows Bacon and Shakespeare shared a similar understanding of an idea from Aristotle:
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- Hector. Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,
- And on the cause and question now in hand
- Have glozed, but superficially: not much
- Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
- Unfit to hear moral philosophy:
- The reasons you allege do more conduce
- To the hot passion of distemper'd blood
Bacon wrote something similar: "Is not the opinion of Aristotle very wise and worthy to be regarded, 'that young men are no fit auditors of moral philosophy', because the boiling heat of their affections is not yet settled, nor tempered with time and experience?"
Aristotle's original words were slightly different. The fact that both Shakespeare and Bacon added the ideas of "heat and passion" and changed "political science" to "moral philosophy" is seen as a strong connection. However, Shakespeare's play was published before Bacon's writing, so it's possible Bacon borrowed from Shakespeare.
Why Most Experts Disagree
Most experts who study Shakespeare do not believe the Baconian theory. They point out that the theory relies on a conspiracy theory (a secret plan).
One common argument against the theory is that Bacon was far too busy with his own important work to have written all of Shakespeare's plays too. Critics say that Baconians talk as if Bacon had nothing else to do.
Experts also disagree with the idea that Shakespeare didn't have enough education to write the plays. Shakespeare grew up in a well-known family in Stratford. His father was a wealthy man and held important local positions. It's very likely that Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, which was common for boys from such families.
Another argument against the Baconian theory is based on Occam's razor. This principle suggests that the simplest explanation that fits the evidence is usually the correct one. In this case, the simplest explanation is that Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays attributed to him.
Some scholars also argue that Bacon's attempts at writing poetry that we know of show he wasn't capable of writing the amazing poetry found in Shakespeare's works. They believe that Bacon, despite being a great prose writer and philosopher, simply wasn't a poet like Shakespeare.
In 1971, the author and historian Isaac Asimov argued that Bacon could not have written Shakespeare's plays because some parts of Shakespeare's works show a misunderstanding of scientific beliefs of the time. Bacon, being a highly educated person, would not have made such mistakes. For example, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare mentions stars shooting from their "spheres." At that time, it was believed that all stars were on one single sphere surrounding the Earth, not separate ones. Bacon, with his scientific knowledge, would have known this.
Images for kids
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William Shakespeare remunerated for a performance at Whitehall on Innocents Day 1594.
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A letter written by Francis Bacon containing the words "I am sorry the joint masque from the four Inns of Court faileth". The letter may have been written either to Lord Burghley (before 1598) or Lord Somerset (1613).
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'Greater lessens the smaller' figure from Gesta Grayorum.
