By ohno - 17/03/2015 20:35 - United States - Spring Lake

Today, for the second time, I had an argument with my mother about whether William Shakespeare was a real person or not. FML
I agree, your life sucks 28 492
You deserved it 2 619

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Unbweavable 17

nothing ends arguments like Google

Comments

Unbweavable 17

nothing ends arguments like Google

I really hope OP was on the real side.

Well... google is also home to many conspiracy theories.

An English teacher once told me that there is a possibility that Shakespeare was actually multiple people. I guess because the books have such different writing styles from each other, even within the same book sometimes. I personally don't care enough to put energy into it though. The theory makes sense, him being one person makes sense. They're great books, so whatever.

Francis Bacon used a Ouija board to enslave playwriting ghosts to write the plays.

#34. Your profile pic really creeps me out. Ewww

It is a blobfish - they live in a really deep part of the ocean but when they are pulled up there is less pressure so they kind of go all floppy. That is a dead blobfish - when alive and at the right pressure level they look very different.

#45 I like ur profile pic - you have very pretty hair :)

At least you didn't say debate, because that might involve the use of facts

Countryboy1996 18

It's actually a fair argument.. I once read that William Shakespeare was a fake name used by playwrights of the time so they weren't persecuted for their works.

My AP Lit teacher was just talking about this today. There are tons of different theories as to whether it was actually William Shakespeare who wrote those plays, if he was even a guy, or if it was many different authors.

anniemeece 23

But seriously. I can see why you wouldn't want to argue over it with your mother AGAIN, but I think this question as to whether Shakespeare truly existed or not is a really interesting question that we have yet to answer completely. The same sort of debate transpires for Homer's existence.

It's true. Or that women used his name to have their plays seen because they weren't allowed to write plays.

Buhhhlainaaaa 16

The man William Shakespeare definitely existed, we have found records of his baptism and death (nothing of his birth). The question isn't if he was a real person, but whether or not he actually wrote all of the plays and poems.

Pseudonymity has been a common practice for thousands of years, and it's well documented that people did it in many cultures for many reasons.

Just say she's right. That way when she tries to tell people that he didn't exist she looks like an idiot.

meli1195 31

but then people might think the idiocy runs in the family

It's highly debated whether Shakespeare was one person or multiple people using the same name as to avoid persecution by the government.

How is this even a thing? How can you not acknowledge his experience?

This is actually the most important part of the FML, which i also was asking myself and a lot of people seem to miss. For all we know OP is someone who also had a argument claiming the Titanic was only a movie and not a real boat.

That's a pretty important question, since, while there's no doubt a person by the name of "William Shakespeare" existed it's less clear if he was the one who wrote all the famous plays.

The Playwrights Guild was a strong secret society in their time.

Well, this theory was popular back in 70-80ies, chances are your mother still sticks to it. Can't see, what's so terrible about it

Just don't. It never works. Parents want to think they are smarter than their kids all the time.