Shakespeare, Bacon, and the Great Unknown

An examination of arguments for and against claims that Francis Bacon or some anonymous figure authored the plays traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare. The author surveys Baconian and anti-Baconian positions, the uneven documentary record and contemporary recognition of the Stratford actor, debates over classical learning and authorship of particular plays, evidence drawn from monuments, portraits, the First Folio, and testimony by contemporaries such as Ben Jonson. Critical attention is given to methodological flaws among advocates, to competing scholarly interpretations, and to possible alternative explanations for anomalies in the biographical and textual evidence.