I had a dear friend who was an earnest Oxfordian and made the case to me many times, but I was never convinced. If you pursue the Oxford theory in detail, it ends up as a conspiracy involving too many people. It's rather like trying to prove that Paul invented Jesus.

Jesus invented Paul, at least through the paternal arm.

The Hoffman Prize
 

You probably know all about it already, but I've not seen it mentioned in this thread yet, so just in case ... the main prize of The Hoffman Prize is for an essay (5000 words+) providing "irrefutable and incontrovertible proof and evidence required to satisfy the world of Shakespearian scholarship that all the plays and poems now commonly attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact written by Christopher Marlowe". There are lesser prizes for less convincing attempts. Free entry. Up to 9000 pounds to win. Deadline 1st sept.

Irrefutable evidence. Marlowe told me himself at a seance.

Bugs Bunny wrote the Shakespeare plays. He also discovered electricity, not that Franklin person.

Calvin Hoffman sounds like an idiot. i'm sure the marlowe society
are nice well meaning people and all that, but it makes them look
rather foolish imo.





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Is Mr. Hoffman interested in buying some oceanfront property in Arizona, by the way? A fool and his money...

It would almost be worth making up some seemingly convincing arguments just to deprive Hoffman of some money...

Conny, if you could polish up your statement at bit - change "idiot" to "genius", "foolish" to "learned" - that kind of thing - I could find a nice red folder for it, and submit it in the contest by September 1. It is 9000 quid, and possibly by now all the other learned geniuses have have their chance.

Thank you, Tim, for that Marlowe Society link.

The principal prize will be awarded to the person who "has in the opinion of the King's School furnished irrefutable and incontrovertible proof and evidence required to satisfy the world of Shakespearian scholarship that all the plays and poems now commonly attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact written by Christopher Marlowe."

. . .

However, it is difficult to see how it could actually be won. Even if The King's School were satisfied that a competitor had produced the irrefutable evidence required, how should Shakespearian scholarship be convinced? If evidence is "irrefutable", but highly inconvenient, it is normal practice to dismiss it with lofty scorn - not to try to refute it. It would surely take a generation or two, and possibly more than the value of the prize itself, before the sceptical world of Shakespearian scholarship - to say nothing of the interested world of Shakespearian commerce - would abandon its claims in the face of "irrefutable evidence".

Isn’t that the most delicious expression of the conspiracy theory mindset? The unprovability of the thesis becomes part of the proof.

It is indeed difficult to see how that principal prize might ever be won. But whoever laid out the conditions for the more modest annual prize was careful to hedge the bet a good deal:

Until the Principal Prize has been awarded, The Calvin and Rose G Hoffman Prize for a Distinguished Publication on Christopher Marlowe is offered annually. This is awarded to the person who submits to The King's School prior to the first day of September in any year, an essay that, in the opinion of The King's School, most convincingly, authoritatively and informatively examines and discusses in depth the life and works of Christopher Marlowe and the authorship of the plays and poems now commonly attributed to William Shakespeare, with particular regard to the possibility that Christopher Marlowe wrote some or all of those plays and poems, or made some inspirational creative or compositional contributions towards the authorship of them.

To win that prize, you don’t have to come up with incontrovertible evidence that Marlowe wrote all of Shakespeare. You just have to examine and discuss the possibility that he might have inspired or contributed to some of it in some way. Since Marlowe was (like Shakespeare) a much better writer than de Vere, essayists should find plenty of scope for coaxing a few quid out of the Hoffman coffers.