Changes

Although researchers discovered Shakespeare's will and several other personal documents, popular biographies published in the early 19th century stressed the contrast between Shakespeare's fame and how little biographical information was known.<ref>McCarter, Jeremy, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E6DB113EF931A35756C0A9669D8B63 A Question of Authorship]", ''New York Times, May 2, 2010</ref> Alternative theories of authorship concerning Homer and the Gospels also emerged at around this time. In 1857, American author Delia Bacon wrote a book arguing that Shakespeare was a fraud and that the real author of his work was Sir Francis Bacon (no relation). This book kicked off the "Shakespeare authorship controversy," which continues to this day. Various late 19th century figures took up Bacon's cause, including Ignatius Donnelly, Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, and Helen Keller.

Although researchers discovered Shakespeare's will and several other personal documents, popular biographies published in the early 19th century stressed the contrast between Shakespeare's fame and how little biographical information was known.<ref>McCarter, Jeremy, "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E6DB113EF931A35756C0A9669D8B63 A Question of Authorship]", ''New York Times, May 2, 2010</ref> Alternative theories of authorship concerning Homer and the Gospels also emerged at around this time. In 1857, American author Delia Bacon wrote a book arguing that Shakespeare was a fraud and that the real author of his work was Sir Francis Bacon (no relation). This book kicked off the "Shakespeare authorship controversy," which continues to this day. Various late 19th century figures took up Bacon's cause, including Ignatius Donnelly, Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, and Helen Keller.

In 1895, a book by Wilbur G. Zeigler argued that English playwright [[Christopher Marlowe]] was the author of Shakespeare's plays.<ref>Zeigler, Wilbur G., ''It Was Marlowe'' (1895)</ref> While Marlowe's style is closer to Shakespeare's than that of other suggested candidates,<ref>Shakespeare's ''Henry VI'' is written in a style similar to that of Marlowe's, so the two authors may have collaborated. See "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/30200393?&Search=yes&searchText=Marlowe&searchText=Christopher&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DChristopher%2BMarlowe%26fromHomePage%3Dtrue%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=5330&returnArticleService=showFullText&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Tamburlaine Stalks ''Henry VI'']" by Thomas Merriam.</ref> he died in 1593 when Shakespeare's writing career was just beginning.<ref>Marlowe worked as an intelligence agent for Thomas Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster. Walsingham may have had Marlowe murdered for fear that his involvement with atheism would make both of them notorious.[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3647398/Who-killed-Christopher-Marlowe.html] The murderer was later pardoned by the queen. See the [http://marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.com/ The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection] for various wildly implausible faked death theories.</ref> In 1920, English author J. Thomas Looney suggested that the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays. Looney argued that Oxford's travels in Europe and aristocratic life at the English court made him a more plausible author than an untitled glover's son. Since the 1920s, Looney's theory has been dominate among Shakespeare skeptics.<ref>[http://oxford-shakespeare.com/ The Oxford Authorship Site]</ref>

In 1895, a book by Wilbur G. Zeigler argued that English playwright [[Christopher Marlowe]] was the author of Shakespeare's plays.<ref>Zeigler, Wilbur G., ''It Was Marlowe'' (1895)</ref> While Marlowe's style is closer to Shakespeare's than that of other suggested candidates,<ref>Shakespeare's ''Henry VI'' is written in a style similar to that of Marlowe's, so the two authors may have collaborated. See "[http://www.jstor.org/stable/30200393?&Search=yes&searchText=Marlowe&searchText=Christopher&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DChristopher%2BMarlowe%26fromHomePage%3Dtrue%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=5330&returnArticleService=showFullText&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Tamburlaine Stalks ''Henry VI'']" by Thomas Merriam.</ref> he died in 1593 when Shakespeare's writing career was just beginning.<ref>Marlowe worked as an intelligence agent for Thomas Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster. Walsingham may have had Marlowe murdered for fear that his involvement with atheism would make both of them notorious.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3647398/Who-killed-Christopher-Marlowe.html] The murderer was later pardoned by the queen. See the [http://marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.com/ The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection] for various wildly implausible faked death theories.</ref> In 1920, English author J. Thomas Looney suggested that the Earl of Oxford wrote the plays. Looney argued that Oxford's travels in Europe and aristocratic life at the English court made him a more plausible author than an untitled glover's son. Since the 1920s, Looney's theory has been dominate among Shakespeare skeptics.<ref>[http://oxford-shakespeare.com/ The Oxford Authorship Site]</ref>

In 1996, computer style analysis at the Shakespeare Clinic at Claremont College in California compared Shakespeare's writing to that of a corpus of twenty-six Elizabethan authors, including Bacon, Marlowe and Oxford. Ten style criteria were used to test the corpus, including use of relative clauses and the use of hyphenated compound words. Shakespeare's writing was found have a style distinct from that of every other author in the study. The authors were ranked according to how similar their styles were to that of Shakespeare. Oxford scored 22nd of the 26 claimants.<ref>Ward Elliott and Robert Valenza, "[http://shakespeareauthorship.com/elval.html Was the Earl of Oxford the true Shakespeare? A Computer-aided analysis]" (1991)<br/>

In 1996, computer style analysis at the Shakespeare Clinic at Claremont College in California compared Shakespeare's writing to that of a corpus of twenty-six Elizabethan authors, including Bacon, Marlowe and Oxford. Ten style criteria were used to test the corpus, including use of relative clauses and the use of hyphenated compound words. Shakespeare's writing was found have a style distinct from that of every other author in the study. The authors were ranked according to how similar their styles were to that of Shakespeare. Oxford scored 22nd of the 26 claimants.<ref>Ward Elliott and Robert Valenza, "[http://shakespeareauthorship.com/elval.html Was the Earl of Oxford the true Shakespeare? A Computer-aided analysis]" (1991)<br/>