8 Intriguing Conspiracy Theories About Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is celebrated globally for his plays and poetry, yet some argue that a son of a glove-maker from Stratford-upon-Avon couldn’t have produced such brilliant, humorous, and profound literature. Despite substantial evidence confirming Shakespeare’s identity, theories emerged in the mid-19th century suggesting he was a cover for another author.

While Shakespeare experts reject this notion, it has garnered support from several famous figures over time, including Charlie Chaplin, Mark Twain, and Sigmund Freud. More recently, Keanu Reeves has also expressed skepticism, joining the ranks of those who doubt Shakespeare’s authorship. However, anti-Stratfordians remain divided on who the true playwright might have been—or whether Shakespeare even existed. Below are some of the most notable and unusual theories.

1. The Baconian Theory

In 1856, William Henry Smith, whose family’s newsagent business later became the British chain WHSmith, documented his skepticism that Shakespeare, “a man of limited education,” could have authored the plays. Instead, he proposed that statesman Francis Bacon was the true writer, citing Bacon’s legal background and court experience as evidence of the expertise reflected in Shakespeare’s works.

Orville Ward Owen advanced the Baconian theory by inventing a cipher wheel: two large spools holding a canvas onto which he pasted Shakespeare’s works alongside those of his contemporaries. Using this device, Owen claimed to uncover a cipher within the plays, allegedly revealing Bacon as Queen Elizabeth I’s secret son. Convinced of a hidden vault beneath the River Wye containing proof of Bacon’s lineage and authorship, Owen excavated parts of the river but found nothing.

Another Baconian, Isaac Platt, a physician and biographer of Walt Whitman, also searched for hidden messages in Shakespeare’s works. He argued that the Latin word honorificabilitudinitatibus from Love’s Labour’s Lost was an anagram for Hi ludi, tuiti sibi, Fr. Bacono nati, meaning “These plays, produced by Francis Bacon, guarded for themselves.” However, there is no concrete evidence linking Bacon to Shakespeare’s works, and significant circumstantial evidence suggests otherwise. Bacon’s limited dramatic works, written during his time at the Inns of Court, lack the finesse of Shakespeare’s. Additionally, as Isaac Asimov, author of I, Robot, noted, the plays contain scientific errors that the highly educated Bacon would likely have avoided.

2. The Oxfordian Theory

Another prominent theory, favored by Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice and actor Keanu Reeves, centers on Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. Introduced in 1920 by J. Thomas Looney, this theory suggests that Oxford’s elite education and courtly background made him a more plausible author than Shakespeare. Looney argued that Oxford might have concealed his identity due to the perceived stigma of aristocratic authorship—a stigma that, in reality, did not exist.

Looney bases his argument on the claim that “there is no evidence William Shakspere ever attended school.” However, the lack of records from Stratford’s grammar school doesn’t prove Shakespeare was uneducated. As the son of a town council member, Shakespeare was entitled to free education at the local grammar school, where he likely studied Latin, philosophy, rhetoric, and poetry. While he didn’t attend university, his probable schooling provided him with the knowledge necessary to craft his works.

Supporters of the Oxfordian theory highlight his patronage of the theater and draw parallels between his life and events in Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, both Oxford and Hamlet were reportedly captured by pirates and abandoned naked on a beach. However, this theory overlooks the stark differences in writing styles between Shakespeare and Oxford [PDF], as well as the fact that Oxford died in 1604, while Shakespeare’s plays continued to be written afterward. Unless Oxford managed to write posthumously, this theory remains implausible. (Apologies, Keanu.)

3. The Prince Tudor Theory

While all Oxfordians agree on de Vere’s authorship, they diverge on specifics. The Prince Tudor theory posits that Oxford and Queen Elizabeth shared a secret relationship, resulting in the birth of Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Oxford allegedly concealed Southampton’s royal lineage within the plays and sonnets, using Shakespeare’s name as a cover to protect his identity.

A more controversial twist suggests Oxford was also Elizabeth’s son, making him both Southampton’s father and half-brother. This incestuous variation, known as “the Prince Tudor Part II theory” [PDF], was depicted in the 2011 film Anonymous.

4. The Marlovian Theory

Among Shakespeare’s contemporaries, suspected spy Christopher Marlowe is the most frequently proposed as the true author. Both Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, a physicist and meteorologist, and Calvin Hoffman, a writer and Broadway press agent, analyzed Shakespeare’s writing and found it aligned with Marlowe’s style. While Hoffman highlights linguistic parallels as evidence, Mendenhall noted that stylistic similarities between authors are not uncommon.

This theory gains traction from the mysterious circumstances of Marlowe’s death. He was murdered on May 30, 1593, by Ingram Frizer, but whether it was a drunken fight or a planned assassination (given Marlowe’s legal troubles for promoting atheism) remains unclear.

If Marlowe died just as Shakespeare’s career began (his first plays likely written between 1589–1591), how could he have authored the works? Marlovians argue that Marlowe faked his death to escape trial and execution, then published under Shakespeare’s name. The theory suggests he used the pseudonym for the poem “Venus and Adonis,” released shortly after his supposed death.

5. The ‘Shakespeare Was a Woman’ Theory

Among the few women proposed as the true author of Shakespeare’s works, Mary Sidney, a prominent noble-born writer and literary translator, stands out. Writer Robin Williams (not the actor/comedian) is a key proponent of this theory, asserting that Sidney possessed the education, court connections, and literary influence to write the plays. She led a literary circle and, alongside her husband, supported Pembroke’s Men, an acting troupe that performed Shakespeare’s works.

Williams suggests that Sidney’s authorship explains the “Fair Youth” sonnets, which align with her romance with a younger man. She also notes that the dedication of Shakespeare’s First Folio to Sidney’s sons, William and Philip Herbert, supports this theory. However, a simpler explanation exists: the brothers, like their parents, were arts patrons. William, for example, supported playwright Ben Jonson and architect Inigo Jones, making it plausible they funded the Folio without their mother being the author.

6. The Nevillean Theory

Proposed in 2005 by lecturer Brenda James and historian William Rubinstein, the Nevillean theory suggests diplomat Sir Henry Neville as the true Shakespeare. They argue that Neville’s European travels align with locations in the plays, places the Stratford man never visited. However, this overlooks two key points: the plays were written using existing sources and contain geographical inaccuracies. For example, while Neville knew Bohemia was landlocked, The Winter’s Tale incorrectly depicts it with a coastline, a mistake also found in Robert Greene’s Pandosto, one of Shakespeare’s sources.

Additionally, the claim that Shakespeare couldn’t have written Henry V due to his lack of French fluency (which Neville had) assumes Shakespeare didn’t know the language. It also disregards the possibility that he sought assistance, perhaps from the French family he lived with in London for years.

Nevilleans cite the Tower Notebook as evidence, claiming Neville wrote it and that phrases from it appear in Henry VIII. However, Neville’s authorship of the notebook is unverified, and parts of the play may have been written by John Fletcher, who collaborated with Shakespeare on the work.

7. The Group Theory

One of the earliest theories proposed that Shakespeare’s plays were too exceptional to be the work of a single individual. Starting in the mid-1850s, Delia Bacon (unrelated to Francis) advocated the idea that the plays were crafted by a “small group of disillusioned politicians who sought to lead public opposition against the government.”

Bacon claimed the key figures in this group were Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, and Edmund Spenser. Like other theories, Bacon’s argument is steeped in classism (she referred to Shakespeare as a “dim-witted, uneducated, mediocre actor”) and lacks evidence beyond speculative interpretations of the plays.

8. The Alien Theory

While not a mainstream theory, some argue that Shakespeare’s extraordinary talent stems from being an alien of superior intellect. Proponents claim this explains his expertise in diverse fields like astronomy, botany, and law, as well as the scarcity of personal records (though the loss of Renaissance documents also explains this). Unsurprisingly, this idea has yet to gain widespread acceptance.