Who Wrote Shakespeare?

[@hootiehootiehoo]

"Unless we're still in quarantine six months from now..." Little did she know.

[@DJDiskmachine]

Almost 12 months later... Little did we know. >_

[@kimmertrolinger269]

Nearly 18 months later... when will it end -_-

[@DavidLindes]

@@kimmertrolinger269 _will_ it end? (Also, for most places, it's already over 19 months rather than "Nearly 18". Just sayin'. 😲)

[@kimmertrolinger269]

@@DavidLindes Oh I'm aware! I was just measuring that from when the video was posted, being May 2020. I live in Alaska and we've been in "quarantine" off and on since March 2020. Although many people up here have not really adhered to any public safety recommendations so most of the time it hardly feels like a quarantine here.

[@gracetopherkirk5742]

Lmao our brains would have exploded if we’d known in 2020

[@johnhamlin5391]

I remember my college Shakespeare professor summed it up with, "There are two kinds of people who don't believe Shakespeare wrote the plays: paranoid American conspiracy theorists looking for secret codes in the texts, and snobby Englishmen from Oxford and Cambridge who refuse to accept that one of the greatest writers in English history didn't go to either Oxford or Cambridge. Thanks for filling in the details! My favorite theory is still Marlowe. Not because I believe it, but because it's the most fun. Cause spies and death faking.

[@hootsyoutube]

I totally think the fan theories are fun and Anonymous would have been a fun premise for a movie if the execution wasn’t so dull and smug!

[@QuikVidGuy]

​@@hootsyoutube I think it would've been more fun if it played with how many different people are candidates. Have them living their secret scandalous lives but we're never directly told who the real Shakespeare is

[@taionalmeida5337]

​@@hootsyoutubeIts incredible Roland Emerich took a premise this hot and delivered a movie so ... Meh ...

[@taionalmeida5337]

​@@QuikVidGuya good premise for a movie series The Last chapter would be somebody saying - the real Shakespeare *is Shakespeare*

[@LezCharming]

So glad to have discovered such an intelligent muse. I imagine you are of course descended from upper class nobility. No common woman could make a video this good.

[@hootsyoutube]

In the Act V section, I say Shakespeare took lenders to court when I meant to say borrowers. Didn’t catch it til now. MAH BAD.

[@DavidLindes]

[@detimeditom]

Maybe the real Shakespeare was the friends we made along the way

[@nicanornunez9787]

Maybe Shakespeares are the real monsters.

[@taionalmeida5337]

Own ❤

[@lazyrmc]

You're gonna blow up one of these days. You just gotta keep going and it'll happen. Your content is great and well produced

[@localcryptid336]

Speaking the absolute truth!

[@0moxie0]

Oh no the eyeballs found your other work too

[@melaustin3305]

Indeed.

[@xp7575]

Lord Oculon's blessings

[@RoselynTate]

My grade 11 English teacher was an anti-Stratfordian, and he once assigned us an opinionated essay on whether or not we believed that Shakespeare was the true author of his works, and those of us who wrote an essay saying they believed Shakespeare was the true author of his works got 20-30% lower marks than those who argued he wasn't. Thoroughly enjoyed this deep dive into the history behind those arguments!

[@alexjames7144]

Should have argued that it was all written by Anne Hathaway. 21st century actress Anne Hathaway. Because honestly it makes about as much sense.

[@huskarlar961]

I would totally watch a 15 minute video about Elizabethan type setters...

[@xCr00k3Dx]

What's fascinating to me, and I think just better cements the idea Shakespeare was himself is that Elizabethan theatre productions were hella rowdy; they were closer to watching "Rocky Horror in a park during Pride" than "Capital-A Arte Theatre Productions™️" as they are today. His plays were considered fairly bawdy, with lots of sex, scandal, and violence to keep the attention of a fickle audience. They were not considered masterpieces at all in the period, and have only gathered that title with the centuries. _He knew how to work an audience of primarily commoners, as he was one of them._ It just also happens that he was a damn good storyteller, and wrote stories with staying power that spoke to truths of human existence.

[@-tera-3345]

It's actually really interesting how many things canonized as "high art" these days were considered low class and vulgar in their time; Charles Dickens is another good example. It's kind of like if two hundred years from now people look back on this time and pick out people like Zack Snyder, Michael Bay, and JK Rowling as being the greatest artists in history.

[@taionalmeida5337]

​@@-tera-3345sometimes the oposite happens. "Birth Of a NATION" Once was considered an undisputed best movie Of ALL time ... Is not like D.W Griffith whole career is considered shit nowdays but this movie does not stand the test Of time. Hope ART no become do dumb Zack Snyder became the highest standart. And ... Man that list you done is a pretty Thought one ...

[@king_otis]

The health and well-being of your lapel mic was an emotional rollercoaster.

[@DavidLindes]

31:22 is the moment when I first started to comprehend this comment. :D

[@silversam]

me before video: why on earth would anyone want shakespeare to be someone else? me after video: guess I'm a (checks notes) "stratfordian" now? Really like your statement about "genius" too

[@TheKinkyBeast]

"unless we are still in quarantine 6 months from now..." haha, classic! My partner works with vulnerable adults so I've been in quarantine for over a year now! Sometimes wonder if maybe we're all vulnerable adults now! Yup! Second birthday in lockdown coming up, so far literally all of my 30's in lockdown! Super-duper! I'm fine though, really, just talking to myself in weird corners of KZbin, as you do. In my 30's. Yup.

[@hootsyoutube]

Yeah, my comment on being in quarantine for more than 6months aged like MILK. 😭

[@TheKinkyBeast]

Could be a dark charcoal coated fancy cheese, some people like that kinda humour?

[@DavidLindes]

link: kzbin.info/aero/PLnnEGJCa5G181q9CDnaFeP-eUTUUCtvDq

[@StoveFortuna]

@@hootsyoutube SOMEBODY NEEDS TO THROW THIS MILK OUT. The fridge STINKS.

[@manueltheplebb]

'Dan Brown horseshit', is a tautology.

[@elinorcackett2314]

It's funny to me that people want to imagine writers as these people who are all about the art not the money. Austen, Dickens, Poe and many others primarily wrote because they needed the money. Often to support others. Why would it not be so for Shakespeare? And yes, I think the anti-stratfordians are mostly classist and understand very little about Elizabethan history.

[@beaulah_califa9867]

Wow! You know zero about this period or this question. The man from Stratford accredited with the authorship's parents and children were illiterate. Worst, his daughters said that he WAS NOT A POET OR A writer. ANd, there is no evidence contemporaneous evidence that he wrote anything at all. So say those who support his candidacy. They are at least truthful that the only evidence he even existed proves he was a broker of wool, plays, and grain. Broker - bought and sold - not wrote. He gave cover for writers who wished to remain anonymous. You seem to have missed the dozens and dozens of writers who were arrested and tortued for their words under this queen. Kit Marlowe WAS KILLED. Jonson arrested 3 times and finally maimed.

[@ithemba]

"the quarantine of early 2020" hahahahahahaha ... I'm not crying. I'm fine.

[@Rocketboy1313]

I am glad that Thought Slime brought my attention to this channel. I like how horney for knowledge it is.

[@Jay32954]

Fun fact: Shakespeare has the longest IMDb filmography of anyone, by a wide margin. Last time I checked (which was a few years ago), it had over five hundred entries. It undoubtedly has more now. Not bad for someone who lived centuries before film was invented.

[@hogweed23]

I've watched many many videos on this subject and you came up with something that even this jaded old cynic loved! Subscribed to your channel and looking forward to your stuff, Amanda!

[@kohhna]

I remember there being a BBC documentary about this when I was a teenager. This was platformed in the meainstream. in the UK anyway.

[@tabbygale5430]

The sinking dread of seeing some naive past person, who thinks that quarantine will only last a few months. In hindsight, that comment dates this video far more than any mention of quarantine itself.

[@jakegillies9498]

About to teach Macbeth and I decided I wanted to read into why Shakespeare is considered so important beyond the merits of his work. Then I discovered I didn't have to because you've done all this! :)

[@hootsyoutube]

Ooh update us on how the Macbeth module goes! High school students?

[@wolfwilliams]

Love that makes breath poor and speech unable.... I watch in awe of you. Many thanks for this.

[@THATGuy5654]

Whipping out sexy lingerie and a Richard III costume in the same video... I'm not sure what to do with any of that except love it.

[@timothyhicks3643]

The fact that Bacon and Looney’s pictures of their imagined Shakespearian author are basically complete opposites of each other is so interesting to me. The idea of genius is such a bizarre thing because as soon a work of art is declared infallible it seems like it loses all meaning. If you believe that the works of Shakespeare are perfect artistic masterpieces, then you will want to find any way you can to conclude that they corroborate your worldview. It reminds me of how the Bible is likewise basically meaningless because people have always reinterpreted it in wild ways over the years to stop it from contradicting their current understanding of the world. I have to wonder if there is any context in which labeling something as a work of genius doesn’t do more harm than good.

[@chocokittybo]

"Unless we're still in quarantine six months from now" is a line that kicked me right in the teeth. It's been two fucking years SO FAR

[@danielstride198]

Good video (I see you definitely put Shapiro's book to good use here). I'd further mention that Oxford died in 1604, so any play written after that disproves him - not to mention that if Oxford wrote poetry under his own name, why would he not put his own name on Venus and Adonis? Bacon, of course, didn't write poetry at all (and would certainly know that Bohemia did not have a sea-coast). As for Marlowe, even if one believes that he faked his own death... Greene's "upstart crow" line about Shakespeare was written when Marlowe was still alive. And Marlowe is a very different writer from Shakespeare in style and theme.

[@ML-iz1gs]

I can believe how underrated your videos are (here from thoughtslime).

[@Seal0626]

Oh, this deserves *so* many more views.

[@jesslavender8852]

Caelan Conrad sent me here, around 3:45 I was laughing crying. What a great snapshot of the hopeful dread of early 2020

[@ConvincingPeople]

To my understanding, the traditional interpretation of the "second-best bed" thing is in part because, yes, you left your best stuff to your kids, but also that it was common practice among many wealthier couples at the time to have a dedicated second bed for… well, getting it on. Which is to say, the bed that he left Anne Hathaway was the sex bed. Which has all sorts of implications but I dunno, I think it's interesting.

[@Henez89]

Watching thinking hoots is a little extra in this one then I spot the upload date. Man covid was a vibe. A very manic vibe

[@sugar_walls]

this deserves high praise but am too tired so here is a comment for the algorithm

[@michaelpeters364]

You really covered the topic well. Thank you for the service. I've subscribed and hope to see more of your intelligent and fun videos. Kind of broke, just now, but for when things are less dire, videos like this are certainly worth paying for or donating towards... I'll keep Patreon and Venmo in mind.... and maybe share your video where friends with a bit more money can see them...

[@MrsSoapAndClay]

This video is so well done. It should have millions of views. Thanks for a very informative and entertaining hour.

[@GilTheDragon]

Every time i hear a good thoughtful discussion on someone who was brilliant i become more certain of PETYPV to the old usage of genius. Not something one was but something that seldom was had, but one had been visited by. Inspiration & extraordinary sharpness as a sort of divine madness

[@Dantalliumsolarium]

This was such good learning but also oh my god the lengths people go to try and bring kings back

[@Furore2323]

This seems like a great companion piece for Maggie May Fish's thing on CATS.

[@Furore2323]

"Author, dream weaver, visionary, plus actor."

[@onbearfeet]

Coming back to this video over 3 years later to say you're absolutely correct about Coriolanus.

[@timothybaldwin8766]

I love this. Very creative and entertaining

[@billycaspersghost7528]

Superb and at the same time sad that you do not have many more views. Still if you wanted to court popularity you would have gone the other way and joined the Loonies and proved beyond doubt the plays were written by every body in 16th /17th century England ….. except William Shakespeare.

[@aurafluff]

Idk the facial hair gave me a "cary elwes from princess bride" vibe Great video!!

[@turtle4llama]

On one hand, yes, Elizabethans were accustomed to child death. On the other hand, Hamlet was 11. He was a young man, if not quite a man at the time. He was old enough to be apprenticed. His death was a tragedy.

[@erikhughes8412]

Oh, no! I LOVE "Coriolanus", probably because my mother was such a poli/sci nerd... My favorite has to be "Titus Andronicus" because it's so gleefully, viciously over-the top. Highly recommend the 1973 Vincent Price film "Theatre of Blood", where an actor dispatches his critics in very Shakespearean ways... Robert Morley gets a gruesome "Andronicus" comeuppance!

[@lolly9804]

I used to think that Shakespeare was highbrow, until a friend of mine, wanted to practise his one man performance of Pyramus and Thisbe. it was mostly just sex jokes, and a piss take of his earilier plays.

[@hootsyoutube]

An interesting thing that happened when people started producing plays in the OP ("original pronounciation") dialect is that more double entendre's started coming out. Like in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXWtcomrpJaJjJI

[@lolly9804]

@@hootsyoutube Aww that's brilliant. The only one I knew was how gander, wander used to actually rhythm, and not just look like they rhythm from their spelling.

[@camboyd5260]

really unfortunate that we are still in quarantine, but I did learn sewing, knitting and crochet!

[@turtle4llama]

I appreciate the Mr. Roger's Neighborhood bit

[@Moeller750]

That intro "I never believed in Finland"... I was like well, this took an unexpected turn.

[@airshow406]

Man this video needs more love!

[@keri-lynnmiller7501]

Wellp... I accidentally clicked on another Shakespeare truther video while reaching for my phone, so I’m curious what the KZbin algorithm will suggest to me next. Is there an Oxfordian “pipeline”? This promises to be a very dull rabbit hole. All that to say: Great video! I enjoyed your stylish and humorous presentation of a topic that otherwise would have never been on my proverbial radar. :)

[@sentientbakedziti]

Just fantastic work

[@hootsyoutube]

Azael Mora thank you!

[@sentientbakedziti]

@@hootsyoutube I need a shirt with a kawaii Chaucer and notice me senpai

[@hootsyoutube]

Azael Mora when this channel really takes off I’ll have to include that as merch

[@sentientbakedziti]

​@@hootsyoutubeHas the time come yet for this shirt,

[@butwithcats265]

Absolute Johannes Factotum is an amazing name for a prog rock album.

[@8bitbaz50]

Great video, I loved it thanks 🥰 I was always a Marlowe fan boy with Edward II and Dr Faustus as a young teenager, and remember hearing about this conspiracy theory in my late teens with and it being connected to Marlowes death after a pub stabbing in Digbeth and him working for the government!! I was never convinced but the lore was fascinating 😂😂

[@d.w.stratton4078]

Shit sis, I'm still in quarantine 11 months later.

[@glennschudel3193]

I watched this video yesterday and loved it and sent it to a friend! But now the algorithm is serving me up tons of Oxfordian TRASH. 😭😭😭 (seriously, though, I just found your channel a couple weeks ago and you're my new fav)

[@gracetopherkirk5742]

Lmao hello from way more than 6 months in the future where depending on your definition of quarantine I’m still in it.

[@monoko1992]

Apparently that reddit question came on my birthday :D amazing day to have stupid realizations 🙌

[@Mokkababa]

Giving this video a comment which i rarely do but i really hope this video will get some attention

[@treedy52]

This is hilarious, and I was so happy you finally got out of the Richard III garb.

[@codasylphanthi2187]

I feel like I already know the jist, and also this video is two years old, but I kind of want to here the 13 minute tangent about Elizabethan age typesetters...

[@scofah]

Hi. Long form essays don't need persistent background music. ADA, on the spectrum, hard of hearing, English as a second language, it doesn't benefit any of us. Watch a Shaun video as a good example. Thanks for your video though. Just wanted to give you that improvement enhancement option.

[@namai-ki9681]

Your content is so good, please keep making these!

[@daca8395]

Can we get director's cut of all the videos? I wan that 13 minutes of Shakespeare so much!!!

[@intrepidabsurdist]

My favorite conspiracy that you haven’t mentioned because it’s not one given much credence- the Queen Elizabeth I conspiracy!

[@dl-zf9dj]

Very cool

[@d.w.stratton4078]

Amanda, you're like if Felicia Day was a comrade and I gotta say, I love it. And I mean that as the most polite compliment I can think of at the moment and hope it's taken as one.

[@hootsyoutube]

Is Felicia Day not a comrade? I don't know anything about her politics!

[@DavidLindes]

@@hootsyoutube we should find out. This isn't Highlander. :D

[@seraphonica]

what gets me is people always think Shakespeare did exactly what he wanted in exactly the way he wanted. as if he never had to satisfy the crowd or his patron's politics (see Coriolanus, which I agree does not at all match his vibe)

[@amyanselmo5109]

To be clear, I never *don't* want to hear a 13-minute tangent about Elizabethan type setters. (Just, you know, for future reference.) 😆

[@radicaledward3783]

"when doing research for this video i kept thinking why, why so so many brilliant, intelligent, rational people- Me: -also Antonin Scalia.- -cling to this particular conspiracy theory?"

[@voidstuffs2592]

Comment for the algorithm and blood for the blood god

[@MithMathy]

Delia Bacon's approach reminds me of the Millerite movement among protestants. As I understand it, Miller was obsessed with interpreting bible prophecy and he said that the Bible said that Christ in 1844. Even though there's also the "no one knows the day or hour" thing. Anyhow.. Surprise! That didn't happen. Later protestants worked on re-interpreting that prophecy, since obviously they missed something. Since she lived through that time and had a conflicted situation with her church, I wonder if she combined the church textual interpretation practice with a non church topic to look for cyphers akin to those supposed to lie in biblical end time prophecies

[@pampoovey6722]

Spoiler: WE WERE STILL IN QUARANTINE! Love ya

[@christopherelizabeth503]

“6 months from now”

[@hootsyoutube]

😭😭😭

[@Zoe-sh2hm]

I wanted to hear about Elizabethan typesetters. :C

[@kahlilbt]

I for one am still here for sexy Shakespeare

[@kennethconnally4356]

People have been tendentiously reading creative works as coded autobiography in cases where we know less than we would like about the author since ancient times, not just since the 18th century. For instance, the reason Homer is said to have been blind is almost certainly because a blind bard appears as a minor character in the Odyssey and people decided this must be a self-portrait.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

But how can falcon if not posh?!

[@JimmieHammel]

And here i thought the authorship question was the only conspiracy theory that didnt have a root in antisemitism...

[@arglebargle23fnord]

The worst thing I heard about Keanu Reeves: that he's allegedly anti-Stratfordian.

[@lfr8666]

I kinda hope he said that to spite/annoy whoever set him up to fail in Much Ado.

[@weezie8886]

My aunt wrote an entire book arguing that Marlowe faked his death and was “the real Shakespeare.” Published by Cambridge Scholars and everything. She also believed really strongly in “The Secret” and would bring it up constantly. But now if any of us ask her about either of those theories…she acts like she doesn’t know what we’re talking about and changes the subject. So there’s that.

[@bald_cliff139]

"unless we're still in quarantine 6 months from now" Bruh...

[@hootsyoutube]

Poorly Aged Things

[@WBWhiting]

The plays of Shakespeare were not written by Shakespeare but by another person with the same name. /s

[@hootsyoutube]

Don’t create another conspiracy I have to debunk. I couldn’t take it.

[@brandonstanley9125]

good stuff

[@Oglokoog]

Of course there's a /r/TrueFinlandConspiracy

[@FallenVVarrior]

its april of 2021 and the pandemic still isn't over, I didn't spend the pandemic getting jacked

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

Well my shrine stays right where it is. Speaking of which I need to light more Shakespearean incense.

[@wanderinghistorian]

"I'm going to date this video by mentioning the early 2022 pandemic. Sorry to everyone six months from now." Me: *Laughs in 2023 pandemic*

[@doperagu8471]

She actually said early 2020 which makes it even funnier since it's not been almost 3 years since then 😂

[@sparklefairykitten]

3:34 me watching this in November of 2024: 🫠🥲🙃

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

I hate to tell you about the quarantine little hoot....

[@DavidLindes]

9:30 - that smirk, though............ what evil thoughts were you having, Amanda? :D

[@wrenoldham7653]

So, as of now this is the oldest video on the channel, may I assume there was more that is now unlisted? Edit: Also how does this only have 8K views? The effort and production quality are great

[@montagnarde1794]

I really enjoyed this video and all the research that clearly went into it! My mother is an Oxfordian and while I'm not convinced, I do resent people assuming that this could only be because she's an elitist or a crazy conspiracy nut, so thanks for presenting the topic with a bit more nuance. She's actually pretty left-wing and a fan of a great many authors of an even more modest background than Shakespeares. She was convinced by more recent books than Looney's not so much against Shakespeare as in favor of Devere because of the circumstantial evidence you cite (and she doesn't go in for the more farfetched elements like affairs with Elizabeth I or secret political critiques). She may well be wrong - certainly from the very little I've looked into it the evidence seems to suggest that - but she's neither motivated by the belief that commoners are incapable of creating Great Art (TM), nor, I think, by the idea of "genius" as such. That may be uncommon, I don't know, but I would like people to know that it does exist.

[@maisieavis2712]

Shakespeare's work leading to him being overhyped as a person in people's imaginations is like Cyberpunk 2077's release. The real thing never could have met the unreal hype, no matter the quality.

[@foxesofautumn]

Oh it’s all intellectual snobbery of the highest order. Shakespeare came from the same class as our best writers today and no one even considered to doubt who wrote these works until centuries after he died. Also we know even less about Johnson and Marlowe and no one doubts they were who is claimed. It’s too silly.

[@aealaeddin]

A year later... Still hiding inside

[@notthecutestanimal8849]

Release the printing press rant cut!!

[@ashleymurphy7614]

I came here to see if Shakespeare was real... now i question if Finland is.... Jkjk i know its real

[@notoriouswhitemoth]

There's a different interpretation of that phrase 'second best bed' - it might mean best bed number two, rather than bed slightly less good than the best It's ironic that Helen Keller, herself a subject of politically motivated ableist conspiracy theories that said she couldn't possibly have been educated enough to write the many books and essays she wrote would have indulged a similar politically motivated classist conspiracy theory about a working-class actor not possibly being educated enough to write the many plays and poems he wrote.

[@izziemoss8262]

I’ve got an answer for the 2nd best bed and that’s because the best bed was always for guests and for show. Their actual bed that they slept in was their 2nd best bed and would have been their marriage bed; in that way it’s kind of a symbol of their love. So yeah doesn’t mean he’s a calculating man who hated his wife!

[@Notveryimpressed]

Good English accent there. Most impressed.