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Syril Levin Kline
a book bubble about
Shakespeare's Changeling
Literature & Fiction
Author Insight
The First Folio - All In The Family
There is a direct family relationship between Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (considered to have written as Shake-Speare when the hyphenated pen name was first appeared) and the dedication of the First Folio: “To the Most Noble and Incomparable Pair of Brethren - William, Earl of Pembroke, etc., and Lord Chamberlain to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty; and Philip, Earl of Montgomery, etc., and Gentleman of His Majesty’s bedchamber – both Knights of the most Noble Order of the Garter, and our singular good lords.” Oxford’s third daughter was Susan, Montgomery’s wife. Bridget, his second daughter, had been engaged to Pembroke. As their literary servant, Ben Jonson had to find plays distributed to Elizabethan actors as rolls containing only their lines, so imagine his quest to find and edit them into complete plays! In 1616, Pembroke and Montgomery had sponsored publication of Jonson’s complete works, so they were very confident of his ability. Published in 1623, the First Folio contained 36 plays amounting to over 900 printed pages. “Shakespeare’s Changeling” dramatizes Jonson’s quest, along with Lord Oxford’s life as a poet, producer of court masques and clandestine writer for the public theaters with the help of his distant kinsman, Will Shaxper of Stratford.
Book Excerpt
Shakespeare's Changeling
Even at the time, Ben Jonson and his contemporaries doubted Will Shaxper’s authorship of the plays -- and they said so, in writing.
In conclusion, it is important that we connect an author with his or her work, especially in terms of Shakespeare and the world’s greatest plays. In doing so, we show students that writers create within the context of their experience and environment. Learning, thinking and writing merge, and the result is a completely unique individual perspective. This can be seen in John Steinbeck’s empathy with migrant farm workers, Mark Twain’s steamboat life on the Mississippi, Emily Dickinson’s reclusive spiritual reflections and Harper Lee’s childhood brush with racism. An author’s life experience is the framework for a literary masterpiece.
For many years, academics have tried to forbid close scrutiny of the Shakespeare authorship, using vitriolic attacks against those who would know more. But like glaciers melting after thousands of years revealing artifacts buried long ago, the true biographical connections of the 17th Earl of Oxford to the Shakespeare canon are open to discovery.
The best secrets are yet to emerge, whether the traditionalists care to admit it or not.
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