What’s in a Name? by Anon

I remember the first time I read a Shakespearian play. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever read. The language and emotion put into it was absolutely beautiful. You can’t just read Shakespeare, you have to experience him. When I first read him I wanted to find out more about this great man who gave us such wonderful plays as Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear. The only thing I found however was a thing I already knew, such as he was married to Anne Hathaway. I then started finding information about how he didn’t write any of his own work. That another person, another man wrote all of these poems, sonnets, and plays that mean so much to us today. After much substantial evidence, I began to think this too.

For the longest time I would argue that Shakespeare never wrote a single thing. It was some other mans mind that thought up these plays. Maybe it was Marlow, or how about Bacon; it could be Anne Hathaway for all I cared. Just so long as it wasn’t Shakespeare.

I then started to read Hamlet and I realized that, these plays aren’t stories. These plays, sonnets, and poems are works of art. When you look at a painting, you don’t think of who painted it, you look at it for it’s beauty. So it really doesn’t matter who wrote these works of art. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – Shakespeare. So even if it was some other man who wrote it, wouldn’t it still be some of the greatest literature ever written?

I’ve since decided that even if they do find out that this guy from Stratford didn’t write them, what’s going to change? How can you put a price on art that is so beautiful and timeless? So whether it was De Vere, Marlow, Bacon, or the poor man from Stratford, Shakespeare, whoever he is will live on forever in the gifts he’s given the world. 1