Story by Erika Scott
Staff Writer
What if William Shakespeare never wrote a single play, let alone one word? What if Shakespeare was proven a fraud?
That’s the premise of the new movie “Anonymous.”
“Anonymous” is a movie based during the Elizabethan period in England and is directed by Roland Emmerich (“2012” and “The Day After Tomorrow”).
The movie argues that Shakespeare people know today never wrote one word; he was an illiterate actor with 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a variety of poems. So the question is: if Shakespeare was illiterate, then how did he write all his works? Where did he gain knowledge of world experience that was so often written in his many plays?
In “Anonymous,” Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, is said to be the true writer of the plays and poems attributed to Shakespeare. His identity as playwright and poet was hidden because nobility was not allowed to be involved in entertainment.
English teacher Mrs. Jacqueline Rogers said that the authorship question will always be up for debate.
The question of Shakespeare is not only viewed from the writing perspective but also in the historical eye.
“This has been postulated for many years,” said Mrs. Rosann Graff-Kindt, chair of the Social Studies Department. “We are never going to know [the truth about Shakespeare].”
Mrs. Courtney Leeman said it would be “devastating” if Shakespeare was proven to be fraud, but, if true, the real author should be given credit.
“It would be like finding out there is not a Santa Clause,” said freshman English teacher Mrs. Patricia Hatfield.
Mrs. Carol Busser, religion teacher and drama director, said that she loves the timelessness of Shakespeare’s work and that it is still current today and will continue to be in the future. For example, modern movies like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “She’s the Man” was based off of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night.
But she said that the authorship question should not change the view of the works.
“Is it the man or is it the story that stands?” Mrs. Busser asked.
