Shakespeare in Class Essay Outline

I. Introductory Paragraph

i.  There has been a question that preoccupies, and in some cases, takes over the minds of everyone from the common man to the literary enthusiast, if at least briefly. This would of course be, the discussion on whether or not William “The Bard” Shakespeare, one of England’s greatest playwrights is the true author of his plays. Ordinarily, most would not doubt that an author indeed did write his plays—and this case should be no different for a plethora of reasons. William Shakespeare is markedly deserving of all his exquisite works because of his adequate amount of education, his plays that bear his name, and his background as a theater man which, when combined, prove beyond reasonable doubt that he composed his superb plays.

II. Body of Argument

1. Reason or Evidence to Support Your Claim

1. Topic Sentence Body 1 : To start off,  the doubt over Shakespeare’s authorship arose because of “misinformation shared with a poorly educated readership (Document 4).”  People were buying into all the theories and gossip that came about due to the opinions of a few elitists who believed that such an uneducated man such as Shakespeare couldn’t have possibly written the plays—but that viewpoint isn’t entirely true.

• While it is true that Shakespeare didn’t receive a university education, he received a thorough education by being sent to a secondary school by his upper middle class father at his market hometown in Stratford-Upon Avon (Document 4).  
• When one hears secondary school, they may believe that this education couldn’t have possibly supplied The Bard with enough intelligence to construct his literary masterpieces, but the truth is he has an ample amount of education. The school Shakespeare went to offered classes such as the classics, Latin grammar, history and rhetoric (Document Shakespeare Facts). The education in Latin at this free grammar school known as The King’s New School gave Shakespeare “just the kind of background needed to write the plays and poems we have” (Document Update, the Shakespeare mystery)  
• Again, there are those who persist that Shakespeare needed to understand a vast amount of legal jargon—since he used 600 legal terms in his plays (Document 2). However, Shakespeare very well must have known about an ample amount of legal terminology seeing as how many of his hometown friends went to serve prominent positions in London (Document 4). Additionally, Shakespeare’s father had the main municipal position in Stratford (Document The Shakespeare Mystery). So, it wouldn’t be unlikely that Shakespeare knew and was able to use legal terminology.

Transition to B2/ Closing: With his thorough education at The King’s New School, which provided him with “many years of Latin”(Document Update), it is evident that Shakespeare is the author of his plays. But another strong indicator of his authorship is dedicated to the fact that his plays bear his name.

1. Topic Sentence Body 2: Although there are different spellings of Shakespeare’s writing on his plays; which can be attributed to the fact that Elizabethan English wasn’t standardized (Document 4); it is clear that Shakespeare’s name appears on the plays—but could this have been a pseudonym?

• A popular theory is that Shakespeare’s name is a pseudonym, since they were fairly common during the Elizabethan period (Document 2). But the real question lies in the fact that an author could have simply chosen to write under an anonymous title,  instead—or at least choose to pick a name of a person that wasn’t really alive.
• Of course, there was the powerful stigma that is attached to writing. According to William Selden, “Tis ridiculous for a Lord to print verses, ‘tis well enough to make them to please himself, but to make them public is foolish”(Document 2). However, this too falls apart at the mention that the more educated noble could have written anonymously.
• With these reasons in mind, it could have only been Shakespeare of Stratford –upon- Avon who wrote the plays since  “the majority of the plays bear his name on the title page, including subsequent editions of the same play”(Document Facts).

Transition to B3/ Closing Truly it is evident that Shakespeare wrote his literary works since his name is written on the plays, but his experience as a theater man also contributes to the evidence of his authorship.

1. Topic Sentence Body 3: Shakespeare’s plays exhibit the touch of professional theater man seeing as he used many techniques which people like actors, which he was, would know.

• Shakespeare being an actor himself knew to utilize tactics such as the use of double roles in his works, which allowed a few actors to play multiple roles (Document 4).  Not many nobles, who still feared the stigma of print, would have been able to understand and use such tactics into their plays since they were not actors, like Shakespeare.
• The play’s the Bard wrote also seemed to have “an acute awareness of how long it would take to change costume” (Document 4). This again shows the mark of a theater man like Shakespeare.
• Then still, there is the fact that most of the plays written by Shakespeare, were performed by an acting troupe known as the “King’s Men”—a group which Shakespeare was a “central member” of (Document Facts).

Transition to Opposing /Closing: With his detailed background in acting, Shakespeare understood how to write and maneuver his plays so that they would be presented in the best way on stage, but there are still those who refuse to accept Shakespeare as the author due to a few inadequacies.

 III. Opposing View

        Topic Sentence: People doubt that Shakespeare could write his works because his life and his works “misfit”(Document 2).

• Shakespeare was clearly not a noble, yet in his plays he showed that he had specific knowledge on certain works of literature, prominent persons, and events that tool place in the Elizabethan court (Document 2).
• While at first this may seem strange, upon further inspection it’s not. “ they could, and did, observe the goings-on of their rulers…did not have to be courtiers themselves to do this, just as reporters today depict for us what happens in the centers of power without themselves being high administration officials”( Document Shakespeare mystery).

Transition to Claim 2 In retrospect, Shakespeare’s social position didn’t need to be a blown out of proportion because he all he needed to do was observe what going on around him.

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