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Working
Paper Series:
08.06
On Shakespeare and Reasonable Doubt
Howard Margolis
Abstract:
A "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" (Guardian, 9 September) is the latest reminder
of the persistence of controversy over who wrote Shakespeare. But the skeptics' case
depends on a logical slip.
The starting point is always some close variant of the claim that while Shakspere (a
common spelling outside theatrical contexts) was alive no one identified him as the
author. "A great mystery lies before you," reads the Declaration. "How could William
‘Shakspere’ of Stratford have been the author William Shakespeare and leave no
definitive evidence of it that dates from his lifetime?" And indeed, while Shakspere lived
no one explicitly identified him as the author. But no one explicitly doubted it either. So
perhaps, as the skeptics argue, no one thought Shakspere was Shakespeare, so no one was
moved to say he was. On the other hand, perhaps no one explicitly said he was because
no one doubted he was. And it is not hard to see which side of this disjunction must be
right.
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