Will the Real William Shakespeare Please Standup

Here's an interesting little article I found on The Supernatural World site about the true identity of Shakespeare:

The 'Real' Shakespeare

The authors of the book contend the real Shakespeare was the Elizabethan figure Sir Henry Neville. Without the book itself it is hard to really consider their argument but the mystery of the authorship of Shakespeare's plays is a great topic for discussion.

For those unfamiliar with the issue, Manly P. Hall makes a very good presentation of the matter in "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" where he contends quite convincingly that the esotericist Sir Francis Bacon, author of "The New Atlantis", actually wrote the plays.

Bacon, Shakspere, and the Rosicrucians

Here's the Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare and Hall's comments on it from the above linked chapter:

There are no authentic portraits of Shakspere in existence. The dissimilarities the Droeshout, Chandos, Janssen, Hunt, Ashbourne, Soest, and Dunford portraits prove conclusively that the artists were unaware of Shakspere's actual features. An examination of the Droeshout portrait discloses several peculiarities. Baconian enthusiasts are convinced that the face is only a caricature, possibly the death mask of Francis Bacon. A comparison of the Droeshout Shakspere with portraits and engravings of Francis Bacon demonstrates the identity of the structure of the two faces, the difference in expression being caused by lines of shading. Not also the peculiar line running from the ear down to the chin. Does this line subtly signify that the face itself a mask, ending at the ear? Notice also that the head is not connected with the body, but is resting on the collar. Most strange of all is the coat: one-half is on backwards. In drawing the jacket, the artist has made the left arm correctly, but the right arm has the back of the shoulder to the front. Frank Woodward has noted that there are 157 letters on the title page. This is a Rosicrucian signature of first importance. The date, 1623, Plus the two letters "ON" from the word "LONDON," gives the cryptic signature of Francis Bacon, by a simple numerical cipher. By merely exchanging the 26 letters of the alphabet for numbers, 1 became A, 6 becomes F, 2 becomes B, and 3 becomes C, giving AFBC. To this is added the ON from LONDON, resulting in AFBCON, which rearranged forms F. BACON.

For those unfamiliar with the fascinating figure of Francis Bacon:

Francis Bacon

Here's the Wikipedia article on Neville:

Sir Henry Neville

And one on the issue in general:

Shakespearean Authorship

I believe the works of William Shakespeare were written by a collective..

The works seem to me to be too numerous for a single person to write and perform during one lifetime. The actors then got together, worked out the kinks in the production and after it was performed a few times before an audience written down in folio form.

Most plays when they are first written, don't quite work until they have been worked on by a company of actors to work out logistical problems and such. It seems that the amount of work done on these plays to take them to the current form that we have would have required this process to make sure that all the jokes worked in the proper places, that actors who played multiple roles could get to their assigned spaces etc.

But again its only my opinion.

[edit on 17-12-2005 by Sparkie the Wondersnail]

I like Manly P's overlay of Franics Bacon and William Shalespeare. It was well done and his whole theory was foood for thought.
manly P had some great ideas in that book .. Gave me years of starting points to investigate as well.

Good issue.

My personal favorite candidate is Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford.

www.shakespeare-oxford.com...

I first became familiar with this topic some 20 years ago when my favorite editorialist, Joseph Sobran, wrote extensively about it in his column.

originally posted by Sparkie the Wondersnail
I believe the works of William Shakespeare were written by a collective.

It's a possibility but I don't think the fact that the author(s) was prolific is really evidence of that. Think of Steven King (I'm not comparing King to Shakespeare). Some artists are just tremendously productive. Bacon has a lot of legends surrounding him, but he does seem to have been one of those multitasking Renaissance men (like Da Vinci or Van Eyck). There are many playwrights who would take offence at your suggestion that the writing of a successful play is dependent upon the cast and crew. At any rate, the Shakespeare folios don't feature complex blocking, set descriptions, etc. Here's an example from the 1623 First Folio:

The Tempest

Mayet,

You've got to love Hall. His argument is still the most compelling one to me as well as it deals so intimately with actual printing ciphers in the folios, and as a component of the Rosicrucian mystery the matter gains something of an understandable motive.

Thanks for posting this, Cicada. I never really suspected anything like this, but always wondered why the lines on Shakespeare's tombstone sucked so badly. I've heard that maybe he didn't write those himself, but now, I'm thinking, maybe he did after all.

At any rate those books listed on that link sound like they're definitely worth my checking out. Again, thanks man.

My pick is Christopher Marlowe.

Here's a link to the oldest continuously running society dedcated to the Shakesperean authorship issue, the Francis Bacon Society Incorporated.

To The Readers:

Here's a little family secret:

Note that the title page of the 1623 First Filio (shown) contains a very typical cypher of the times. Good cyphers were cleverly hidden in plain sight.

At the very top of the 1623 First Folio page is the cleverly cyphered name of Francis BACON.

Look very, very closly at the Bard's name:
Mr. VVILLIAM SHAKESPEARES

Notice that a double "V" is used instead of a contemporary "W"?

To an astute codebreaker of the author's day, that is a subtle visual clue to de-cypherer. To whit:

Your attention should be drawn to the fact that the first five letters of VVILLIAM's name are commonly used Roman Numerals:
V=5, I=1, L=50. Thus, VVILL sums up to be an Arabic/decimal value of 111: V+V+I+L+L =111

So, the whole name transforms by substitution into:
Mr. 111 I AM SHAKESPEARES

Two very common cyphers of the day where the Simple Cypher:
A=1, B=2, C=2, etc. (There were only 24 letters in the Elizabethan alphabet of the day: I & J were combined as were U and V. );
and the Kaye Cypher (This link clearly explains and authenticates it)
Note that Bacon = 111..... WOW!... magic!

Mr. BACON I AM SHAKESPEARES

or now, more completely from whole text of the title page:

Mr. BACON I am SHAKESPEARE's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...

Coincidence? ya, right!

-- Francis Bacon of Tupelo
[email protected]

Im surprised Marlowe hasnt got a mention yet ?

but hey your doing the tourist trade in Stattford upon Avon out of business (after they nearly got Mary Ardens house wrong)


(I profess a vested interest - but it is a lovely town to vivit and we do have the birthplace and some amazing pictures of the man himself considering non exist)

[edit on 30-8-2007 by Silk]

Well I'm going to post something quite contentious and controversial....
I believe William Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays.
Sorry, got no evidence to substantiate.

Seriously though,
Try as I might, and I have tried on several occassions, I honestly struggle to understand any of it.

The only play I slightly understand is Macbeth, and that's only because I studied it for my O Level and my teacher walked us through act by act.

Macbeth, eh?

Here's the ol' 111 Kaye cypher encription yet again!!

The three "VVItChes" chant thrice:

"Fire burn and Cauldron bubble."

V+V+I+C = 111

Kaye Cypher: 111 = Bacon
Simple Cypher: 33 = Bacon

Another coincidence, right??!!

ya, sure.

Again yours,
Francis Bacon, Tupelo MS

Here's yet another article with possibilities.

news.aol.com...

The "real" author has been identified by various writers in the past as Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, or the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.

The piece goes on to mention several noteworthy individuals from the past who have had doubts.

The declaration names 20 prominent doubters of the past, including Mark Twain, Orson Welles , Sir John Gielgud and Charlie Chaplin .

I had never given thought to questioning the author of these works but, as the article points out at the end, I suppose that is the point; We should question things. I think the value in something like this does indeed come much more from the pursuit of the truth than from whether or not the real author or authors are ever discovered.

Being an artist myself I would say it's Franics Bacon...

And now we have a recent painting declared to be William Shakespeare -- with 90% certainty....

A hot young Shakespeare

latimesblogs.latimes.com...

Today the man in the painting above was declared to be William Shakespeare -- with 90% certainty, according to professor Stanley Wells, a leading authority on the playwright. For more than 300 years, the portrait has hung in the properties of the Cobbe family, but the sitter's identity was unclear (at one point, he was mistaken for Sir Walter Raleigh). It is the only known portrait painted of William Shakespeare during his lifetime.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d233b2ea1c2c.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c093e641ff11.jpg[/atsimg]

This portrait almost looks to good to be real... But notice the clothes and angle of the pose in the portrait.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ca84929be7c7.jpg[/atsimg]

I would say there is plenty of stock in the OP

Originally posted by Francis Bacon
To The Readers:

Notice that a double "V" is used instead of a contemporary "W"?

To an astute codebreaker of the author's day, that is a subtle visual clue to de-cypherer.
Coincidence? ya, right!

-- Francis Bacon of Tupelo
[email protected]

You seem to want to suggest that the usage of the double V to form the letter W is out of the ordinary and therefore indicates that a code is being used when in fact it was not at all unusual for that period of time.
In the Elizabethan alphabet the letters U & V were interchangeable hence the letter W is called "double U." From Elizabethan texts It is not uncommon to see the letter W written as 2 separate V's or 2 V's slightly overlapping.

You also conveniently change roman numerals (of which you would never see 2 x V's together) to represent arabic equivalents and I find that is a bit lame.

If I look for long enough I can find "fr bacon" in other lines of text but I need to go back to work now.

all the beft

PEACE,
RK

[edit on 13-3-2009 by Rigel Kent]

I want to add, (since I'm interested in what Shakespeare looked liked)... To me it seems the Stratford portrait matches up with the new found portrait really well, with the Chandos portrait coming in 2nd place because it was altered by Ozias Humphrey and Sir Joshua Reynolds, they were probably trying to match it with the Droeshout engraving!

The new portrait, Stratford portrait and Chandos portrait.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b6de85653d2b.jpg[/atsimg]

The more one looks at the Droeshout engraving, you can see Sir Francis Bacon lol.... But if that was true, who is the guy in the portraits? It's certainly not Bacon nor Neville.... (scratches head) Maybe it's Sir Walter Raleigh?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a6945fc90d94.jpg[/atsimg]

Oh no... they all starting to look the same....

or maybe.. Sir Thomas Overbury

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/319848caad99.jpg[/atsimg]

The mystery continues....To be or not to be, that is the question;

[edit on 13-3-2009 by imitator]

666 Shakespeare sign in the KJV of the Bible
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Psalm 46 contains Shake Speare

These theories were started a good long time ago ...

Amusing reads are ... "The Cipher of the Plays", "Cryptogram" and "On the Tombstone" by Ignatius Donnelly

Donnelly unfortunately also thought that Francis Bacon wrote the works of Christopher Marlowe as well, so he was a very busy man. Basically he theorized that Bacon had written clues into these works to show himself as the original author. It's a little bit ludicrous mainly because you could find clues to most things in the poetic writings of Shakespeare.

He also pointed to the fact the writers use the same symbols again and again. Donelly also believed that land masses were formed by a collision with a comet and Atlantis etc existed before that in some kind of golden age. He wrote a book about that, too.

I guess what I find fascinating is how despite the times keep moving and we have the internet and everything ... the conspiracy theories and theorist remain kind of similar. Anyway am straying off topic ...

Donelly wrote all this stuff in the late 1800s and is responsible for at least a modest percentage of people who read into this topic one way or another.

Hope the information is helpful.

reply to post by Cicada

The date, 1623, Plus the two letters "ON" from the word "LONDON," gives the cryptic signature of Francis Bacon, by a simple numerical cipher. By merely exchanging the 26 letters of the alphabet for numbers, 1 became A, 6 becomes F, 2 becomes B, and 3 becomes C, giving AFBC. To this is added the ON from LONDON, resulting in AFBCON, which rearranged forms F. BACON.

Sounds like this guy is a world class purveyor of digging utensils! Where did the ON from LONDON come from? They were handy?

Originally posted by Ferris.Bueller.II
reply to post by Cicada

 

The date, 1623, Plus the two letters "ON" from the word "LONDON," gives the cryptic signature of Francis Bacon, by a simple numerical cipher. By merely exchanging the 26 letters of the alphabet for numbers, 1 became A, 6 becomes F, 2 becomes B, and 3 becomes C, giving AFBC. To this is added the ON from LONDON, resulting in AFBCON, which rearranged forms F. BACON.

Sounds like this guy is a world class purveyor of digging utensils! Where did the ON from LONDON come from? They were handy?

The birthday of the Rosicrucians provides the ON code in LOND-ON
273 = Hiram Abiff = ChVRM + ABIV = 254 + 19
465 = King Solomon = MLK + ShLMH = 90 + 375 = SUM (1..30)
640 = Hiram, King of Tyre = ChVRM + MLK + TzVR = 254 + 90 + 296
====
1378 = Total = SUM (1..52)

Therefore
ShLMh = 300 + 30 + 40 + 5 = 375 = Solom-ON

Now just search for ShLMh or 375 in CANON
www.themasonictrowel.com...