David Rhys Williams
Who was William Shakespeare? Many scholars have speculated over the mystery of Shakespeare’s identity. Was he really just a man—a poet, playwright, and favorite of the Queen? Was he a collective of writers creating the lasting works of art under this pen name? Or was he someone else entirely? The discussion of Shakespeare’s true identity remains a topic of debate to this day, and scholars have claimed again and again that the famous bard was simply a pen name. But for whom? Author David Rhys Williams weighs in with his controversial book Shakespeare Thy Name is Marlowe. Rhys Williams summarizes the evidence and arguments that have led many contemporary scholars of the Elizabethan period to the conclusion that the man known as William Shakespeare was none other than Christopher Marlowe. One of the highlights of Rhys Williams’s study is his explanation of how the charge of heresy that was leveled against Marlowe in 1593 probably led to his appropriation of the pseudonym “William Shakespeare” as a protective device—one which permitted him to escape death at the stake and to continue the writing of poems and plays. Williams consults multiple sources and Marlovian scholars on the subject, and comes to his shocking conclusion: that Shakespeare’s friend and contemporary, the poet and dramatist Christopher Marlowe, may have written Shakespeare’s tremendous and far more famous oeuvre. Discover the truth for yourself in this probing and thorough essay. David Rhys Williams, in addition to being a Marlovian scholar, was an American Congregational and Unitarian minister. He published widely on religion, theism, and nonviolence, including three books, World Religions and the Hope for Peace, Faith Beyond Humanism, and Shakespeare, Thy name is Marlowe. 3
