Oh, great. Falstaff wrote the plays? The new book “The Truth Will Out” claims that Sir Henry Neville, nicknamed “Falstaff”, was the real brains behind the operation.
The “evidence” described is just painful:
* Neville’s ancestors (Edward III and John of Gaunt) are described with such accuracy that they could only have been written by someone with special knowledge.
* Neville had acecss to a letter about the Bermuda Shipwreck of 1609, “thought to have” inspired The Tempest.
* the plays could only have been written by someone deeply familiar with court life.
Yeah, that makes me want to run out and get that one. Real groundbreaking stuff, there. Aren’t points 1 and 3 basically the same thing? Could I sum them up as “They’re just so good, it’s impossible for Shakespeare to have written them!” Is that evidence?
I did laugh when I read the new Falstaff theory. But I did think it would be funny to go back and re-write the plays like Falstaff (the character) really did write them. Oh well, mabye when I retire, and I have much more free time. 😉