Scholars in the literary world have drawn up the battle lines when it comes to Shakespeare; there are those that believe him to be the original author and playwright for his whole body of work, and then there are those that believe him to just be a name, a front, for either a group of other playwrights or a phenomenal single playwright who wished to remain anonymous. Debates on Shakespeare date back to the 19 Century and conspiracy theorists who do not believe him to be the architect of the original work now attributed to his name, talk mainly of him being too illiterate to have done so. Additionally, the fact that most of the work attributed to Shakespeare has evidence of knowledge, not just of distant places and traditions, but also of the English court affairs, which could not have been known to a man of no advanced education and low class during those times. In fact, even the lifestyle of the aristocratic rich and famous and their sporting choices could not have realistically been known to the him.
Other factors, such as there being no documentary evidences conclusively stating him to be the author of his works, no legitimate signatures or handwriting samples having been recorded and the best of all, the fact that his own will was written in a completely plain hand, without any mention of his poems and plays, leaves enough doubt in the minds of theorists. So if Shakespeare did not contribute all the great pieces of literature attributed to him, who did? Theorists claim that it could be anyone from Edward De Vere, The Earl of Oxford, Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Johnson or even Christopher Marlowe.
