Marlowe, not Shakespeare

There is an article in Salon today highlighting some of the arguments made by ‘Much Ado about Something’, a documentary about the Marlovians, who believe that it was Christopher Marlowe who wrote all those plays, not Shakespeare, who by their arguments, was no more than a landowner and an actor.

This is a conspiracy theory that I have looked at before. In my last year of highschool, I approached my teacher about writing a paper about Shakespeare conspiricies. I had heard a program on NPR about the Marlowe-as-Shakespeare thing and was intrigued. I was turned down on the basis that I should be writing about Shakespeare’s play, not about the author. And I forgot all about it.

In general, I like conspiracy theories, I admit. I like to think that people in power are using and abusing their positions in all sorts of devious ways. I do tend to pick and choose which ones I like based on nother more than intuition, regardless of the facts presented by either side. I do believe that man landed on the moon. I do believe that the US government itself assassinated JFK. I’m not at all surprised that Shakespeare was a front or a pseudonym – whether it was for Marlowe or not, I don’t know, but I like it. Etc.

Q. for the day: What are your favorite conspiracy theories?

18 Replies to “Marlowe, not Shakespeare”

  1. i read that article on the weekend and it really got me to thinking. i quite enjoyed it.

    i was born and raised a fan of conspiracy theories myself. i’m with you on the man on the moon & JFK. i have my own personal theory, which is shared by a select group of discontents in and around Rome, that the Pope is stuffed and has been for many years. whether or not it’s true, “the pope is stuffed” has a lovely ring to it.

  2. i read that article on the weekend and it really got me to thinking. i quite enjoyed it.

    i was born and raised a fan of conspiracy theories myself. i’m with you on the man on the moon & JFK. i have my own personal theory, which is shared by a select group of discontents in and around Rome, that the Pope is stuffed and has been for many years. whether or not it’s true, “the pope is stuffed” has a lovely ring to it.

  3. Some time ago (anywhere between 6 months and 2 years ago) I read a really good debate-article about this issue of who wrote the Shakespeare plays. It was quite funny and possibly biased: the Marlowe faction came up strong in the beginning, but the arguments were obliterated by the Shakespeare faction. My guess is that it would have been in a Harper’s Magazine. Pity their online resources are so pathetic.

  4. Some time ago (anywhere between 6 months and 2 years ago) I read a really good debate-article about this issue of who wrote the Shakespeare plays. It was quite funny and possibly biased: the Marlowe faction came up strong in the beginning, but the arguments were obliterated by the Shakespeare faction. My guess is that it would have been in a Harper’s Magazine. Pity their online resources are so pathetic.

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