NOT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE—BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT?

NOT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE—BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT? This article in the weekend Wall Street Journal reports that Justice John Paul Stevens believes that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Justice Stevens has held this view since the late 1980’s. Further, Justice Stevens thinks that the evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford is not the author is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” I was struck by the certainty expressed by the use of the legal standard. I would think that the fact that the Earl of Oxford died in 1604 and a number of the Shakespeare plays have been dated after Oxford’s death would be enough to establish a reasonable doubt. (For example, CYMBELINE’s first recorded production was in April, 1611).