William Shakespeare, the Bard, is an interesting historical figure. Interesting because he wrote a not insignificant number of plays that are still relevant today. Interesting also because many people seem to be unconvinced he wrote all of them.
Today I’m going to explain why that doesn’t matter. No, not in the, “sure it’s nice to think our souls will live again and we live many lives, but that doesn’t help me much in THIS life” way.
I mean, even if another author wrote half or more of all of William Shakespeare’s work, I don’t think it would make a ton of difference to anything or anyone if the real author was revealed.
Let me explain: the main theory that I understand is that William Shakespear couldn’t have written all of his work because, it’s A) a lot of work, B) Like seriously it’s so goddamn much work, C) SO FUCKING MUCH, D) he wasn’t educated as a child. I’m being facetious but, in all honesty it’s a little weird how much the dude published, and it’s not an incongruitous argument. Especially considering yeah, he would have had to learn rhetoric, story telling, and the English language on the fly to do it. This doesn’t make the task impossible; I actually fall into a weird category on this one. I would bite on him writing all of it, and I would also consider someone helping out on some of it too.
Maybe being OK with either outcome is why I also believe that it doesn’t matter but I’m going to argue why even if you believe one way or the other that it still doesn’t matter.
When I was about twenty-two, I discovered Modest Mouse and it changed my life. It helped me take a step in my beliefs and it helped me get over a few hang ups from my past. To be clear this is prior to me getting proper psychological help, but it was a at the least a helpful and meaningful Band-Aid.
While I was aware of the concepts of impermanence through Buddhism, it was really Modest Mouse that helped me embrace it. How we perceive others and the way they perceive us, the nature of the universe and so many other things were unlocked by their poetry.
When I was twenty-six, I saw Modest Mouse live, and they played a song from their most recent album at the time. That song is Spitting Venom, and I can easily write an entire essay on why that’s maybe the most important song about relationships in adult life that one can ever listen to.
That the song is about relationships, that the song is about the grind of life and about the way we approach our loved ones with the things we say is not the revelation I had that night in MacEwan hall.
The revelation I had was when the lead singer and principal song writer of the band looked over at their most recent band member, a one album feature, the legendary guitarist Johnny Marr.
“This is my favorite song that you wrote off the album”, Brock declared. This was news to me because in the liner notes all songs are credited simply to Modest Mouse
In this case, the primary source revealed information first hand. I can trust his words, but you probably shouldn’t trust mine until another person from that night or another corroborating source confirms that Johnny Marr wrote the Modest Mouse song Spitting Venom. Regardless, I believe this to be the case because I was told so.
Back to the Bard. William Shakespear was a theater producer, writer and performer. He lived and frequently figuratively died on the stage. He was a performer who performed his own work and a entertained a people so definitively that the echoes of his work still remain with is and influence a thousand things we do ever day. That work was profound in it’s humanity, even when it flagrantly stole from other work. The point of the work was to move the audience, to get them to feel and to think. For that reason, it really doesn’t matter who wrote it because it was being performed by that cast in that context.
It was always performative and it was always meant to be performed by Will’s actors at Wills theater. The Stratford Society, the living incarnation of Shakespear is, simply put, the best cover band available. Nothing more.
What I’m trying to say is even if Lord Bacon or any of the other potential William Shakespear ghost writers wrote ALL of it. Every last play and every last sonnet, it doesn’t change what that experience was. William Shakespear is not a man, it’s a Brand. People went to see a William Shakespear play, because that was what they wanted to see. They knew that’s what would move them and make them feel alive. The experience of those plays was so profound it lives on today and THAT is the effect of William Shakespear.
At no point did Will ever look over at any contemporary and say “This is my favorite play that you wrote,” so, we can’t be certain of any of this. What I can be certain of is, that even if I was there and heard him say it, I wouldn’t have cared it would still be a Shakespearian play in my mind.
Just like when I went to see Modest Mouse, it didn’t matter that Johnny Marr wrote Spitting Venom, what mattered was that I was able to enjoy it, there in that moment. To feel like a human, and to be alive.