The Stratford bust: a monumental fraud

Today's Stratford monument is the defining image of William Shakspere of Stratford-on-Avon as the alleged author of Shakespeare's poems and plays. The plaque on it says it's for "Shakspeare," although without a first name. Thus, according to the Stratfordian story line, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Oxfordian (Portland, Or.) Or.), 2005-01, Vol.8, p.7-24
Main Author: Whalen, Richard F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
British & Irish literature
Drama
Dramatists
English literature
Fraud
Fraud investigation
Poetry
Sculpture
Sepulchral monuments
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Shakespeare, William (English playwright)
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Summary:Today's Stratford monument is the defining image of William Shakspere of Stratford-on-Avon as the alleged author of Shakespeare's poems and plays. The plaque on it says it's for "Shakspeare," although without a first name. Thus, according to the Stratfordian story line, the monument was erected to honor the world's greatest writer, namely the man from Stratford. But this monument is a fraud, a "monumental" fraud. It is not the original, nor does its effigy resemble the original. The cumulative power of the evidence against the authenticity of today's monument is clear and convincing. The principal witnesses against its authenticity are a respected antiquarian who left an eyewitness description of the original monument, an eighteenth-century artist whose engraving is the first to depict a writer in it, and a famous painter who called it "a silly smiling thing."
ISSN:1521-3641