Authorship of William Shakespeare works once again has come under debate with the announcement by a group of British classical actors lead by film star Derek Jacobi that considerable doubt exists that the itinerant actor from Stratford-on-Avon wrote all those plays and poems.
Challenging tradition, literature experts say a person from a small town in 16th Century England with no formal education could not have penned the elegant iambic pentameter that has been memorized by millions through the years. Of course, he had exposure to theatrical form through a long career on stage; however, the language in Shakespeare’s plays–which has rarely been matched in half a millennia–goes beyond what anyone could learn while treading the boards.
Purists accuse the doubters of an elitist attitude. The American ideal is that men and women from any background, from any economic class, or with a minimum public education can achieve their dreams if they only try hard enough. Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, among many others, provide hope, and no one should take that hope away.
But perhaps that is not the message the literature classicists intend to send. Instead of putting down the lower classes they might be championing their rights to have the right to the same education according to British peerage and American industrial scions. By holding up Shakespeare as an ideal, the protectors of the status quo profess no responsibility to help poor children. If these children are truly talented and inspired, they don’t need the rich people’s tax dollars to finance their education.
A middle ground exists to provide hope for civilization. What if Shakespeare couldn’t put two coherent words together, but somehow met a young educated lord who had poetry flowing through his pen but had no sense of drama? Open it with a ghost, have a gang fight, give the audience some witches, that will make them happy, Shakespeare told his refined lord. Inspired by the actor’s eternal themes and gripping action, the lord then supplied the beautiful language.
Society shouldn’t battle over who deserves an education and who doesn’t. Society grows when everyone has a chance to contribute what that individual does best.
Shakespeare wrote a play about that, or at least he should have