The Mysterious Shakespeare

In 2002, the BBC placed the playwright fifth in the Top 100 Greatest Britons, positioning him between Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton, yet doubts remain about whether this person actually existed. In the 19th century, scholars first suggested that Shakespeare was not the creator of the works attributed to him and attempted to prove the joint authorship of several writers of that time. Due to the lack of fully preserved documentation from the 16th century, as well as the reverence for this master of words, the figure of William Shakespeare is shrouded in myths and conjectures that, while widely spread, are not always true. There are hundreds of his biographies - longer, weightier, substantial, and undoubtedly more accurate regarding facts - however, the biography written by Rowe deserves serious consideration even three centuries after its appearance. The first biographer and one of the earliest editors of his plays unveils the mystery of Shakespeare's life. About the author. Nicholas Rowe 1674–1718. An English poet and playwright who held the position of poet laureate. As the most successful playwright of his time, Rowe also became Shakespeare's first editor. In 1709, he published the first collected works in six volumes, which also opened with the first biographical essay. The tragedy Jane Shore 1714, one of Rowe's most popular plays, was, by his own admission, based on imitating the Shakespearean style.