The Tempest, Act 1, June 13-19,

[Jake]

Christine wrote: "Jake wrote: "There are some nice videos here that are worth checking out."

Thanks for the link, Jake! I am skeptical of Oxford, but this looks like a really interesting channel. Looking forward to..."

Thanks Christine.
I've been following the authorship question for about fifteen years now and these are some of the best sources available.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyAA...

Thanks for the friendship and dialogue.
Best,
J.

[Tom]

JimF wrote: "Jake wrote: "A very nice condensed anagram explication of the sonnets title page here. ..."

Jake, that video is too complex. Names are always sealed via anagrams in Shakespeare’s works, simple and..."

Interesting analysis in the video. Until becoming connected with the Shakespeare Fans group, I had never paid attention to anagrams, allegories, and additional possible hidden messages in Shakespeare and other literature of the period, and find that engaging those opens for me a new door to the times.

I confess, though, that I view this analytical approach with caution. It reminds me of the devices in Dan Brown novels and the "National Treasure" films, which I found tedious. "The Da Vinci Code" was popular among my students in China, and we spent some time in my Western Civ classes examining "The Last Supper," which I projected on PowerPoint, for Brown's clues that weren't there. I also remember how, as a graduate student in anthropology working as a field archaeologist in the American Midwest and the Mexican Yucatan, there was a tendency among some researchers to see astronomical alignments in structures and ground features, that may have been coincidental. Also, there was the question of what stellar alignments may have been significant to ancient peoples, that may or may not stand out to present-day investigators. (There is also an inclination of archaeologists to label anything they find whose purpose they cannot identify as a "ritual object" or "religious object." There is a prideful reluctance to admit, "I have no idea what this is.")

[Jake]

I agree Tom, the last thing I want to convey is that I have absolute certainty about the works; there's just too much conjecture surrounding the creation of them to make any definitive authorship statements. I just enjoy the critical thinking involved, and the more I do research into it, the more interesting the plays become. It’s made the early modern period of English literature come to life for me in a whole new way.
Best,
J.

[JimF]

Jake wrote: ". . . main people involved. Warm regards"

Thanks Jake. I believed Oxford and Mary Sidney started the Shakespeare project. Imagine this, if the Herberts supported the publication of 1623 folio, and Mary’s Wilton poets disliked Oxford, they would erase his contributions.

Wilton House maintained Shakespeare till 1743 (Shakespeare statue in Wilton House). The Herberts had the power to keep this secret. Why to hide? Syphilis and Christopher Marlowe. Betrayers could die suddenly like Marlowe, or live poorly like Robert Greene. The other face of Mary Sidney was cruel as Prospero.

[JimF]

Tom wrote: "... engaging those opens for me a new door to the times ..."

The true battle zone is the non-fictional Shake-speares Sonnets. The 154 sonnets are 154 riddles forming one jigsaw puzzle. In there, every word needs to check with care: “Siren tears” are mercury drops used to treat syphilis; “an unperfect actor” is a male playing a female role . . . Shakespeare will thrive again, much, much greater than before.

[Janice (JG)]

I find it interesting that these word games and puzzles are present in Shakespeare's writings, and that some people focus on these historical ideographs to decipher Shakespeare's writings -- as they may have meant in their time.

But anagrams, secret codes, and puzzles are not why Shakespeare is still performed or read today. Whatever games lurked behind the writing, the plays are the work of someone whose knowledge of human behavior was genius, intuitive, empathic, and compassionate. The psychological and archetypal themes of the plays speak to audiences centuries in the future, and will continue to reveal truths about our human frailties hundreds of years from now. This is why I read the plays. I want to know what they are saying to me now, not 500 years ago.

[Jake]

Agreed. The authorship question is important Janice because it deals with finding the people who created the works and celebrate genius of the work. I’ve enjoyed the plays and poems much more after reading about the life of Edward de Vere. Just my two cents.
Thanks for your time, and all the best.

[Tom]

Janice (JG) wrote: "I find it interesting that these word games and puzzles are present in Shakespeare's writings, and that some people focus on these historical ideographs to decipher Shakespeare's writings -- as the..."

Hear, hear.