Although the official story of a Stratford merchant writing for

the London box office has held sway for centuries, questions

over the authorship of the plays and poems have persisted.  Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, Charlie Chaplin and Orson

Welles are among the many famous figures who doubt that

a grain-dealer from Stratford-Upon-Avon was England’s

“Star of Poets”.

 

Critic

 

To be or not to be, that is the question.

 

 Last will and Testament puts forward a compelling, complete,

and aesthetically powerful depiction of the history and

facts surrounding the author.... but; what if there was evidence

of a true author.  One so well hidden from ordinary eyes it

would take someone quite extraordinary to see it.  Join us on

this quest and discover the hidden author behind the mask.

 

 

Sigmund Freud

 

"I no longer believe that William Shakespeare the actor

from Stratford was the author of the works that

have been ascribed to him."

 

 

Henry James

 

"I am sort of haunted by the conviction that the divine

William is the biggest and most successful fraud

ever practiced on a patient world."

The "First Folio" is of major importance to William Shakespeare as it is the first collected edition of

Shakespeare's plays. The copper-engraving picture of

William Shakespeare is signed Martin Droeshout on

the title page of the ‘First Folio’ (1623).

There are many peculiarities about the engraving,

which have strengthened the arguments of

the Shakespeare Identity and Authorship Problem.

The following comments and speculations have

been made by various experts about the engraving.

The head is out of all proportion with the body. There

is a peculiar line running from the ear down to the

chin. Does this signify that the face is in fact a mask?

The mask speculation was suggested by Sir Edwin

Durning-Lawrence who stated that it was a cunningly

drawn cryptographic picture

It has also been suggested that the eyes are wrong

as they are in fact two right eyes. So we start the

trail of the possible concealed messages in the

Droeshout engraving of Shakespeare.

The engraving on the doublet is quite intricate but on

closer inspection it seems to show according to Sir

Edwin Durning-Lawrence, author of 'Bacon is

Shakespeare', the front of the right arm is on one

side but, 'without doubt', the back of the left arm

on the other side.

It has been suggested that the type of collar depicted

on the engraving did not exist. This is not a style of

collar that has ever been traced to any one else during

this era, it appears to be completely unique. The

head does not appear to be connected to the body

but is sitting on the collar.

 

 

 

The Droeshout engraving with its numerous anomalies

is of the utmost importance in deciphering the

author's true identity.  The engraver has gone to

great lengths to conceal  the writer in  code.  It would

be wise and fitting to begin our quest there by

decoding the engraving and with it, establish once

and for all the true identity of the author.

 

 

 

This picture has many anomalies: Two right eyes, the

right arm of the doublet is from the back of the left

arm and the collar is most peculiar too. His head is suspended above his body, there is no sense of neck

and the face has a line as though it were a mask.

 

 

 

Here is the short poem by Ben Jonson, which

accompanied the Droeshout engraving.

 

To the Reader

 

This Figure, that thou here feeft put,

It was for gentle Shakefpeare cut;

Wherein the Grauer had a ftrife

with Nature, to out-doo the life :

O, could he but haue drawne his wit

As well in braffe, as he hath hit

His face; the Print would then furpaffe

All, that was euer writ in braffe.

But, fince he cannot, Reader, looke

Not on his Picture, but his Booke

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