Shakespeare and Me: The Man or the Myth?

Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke

As we gradually draw our assessment of authorship candidates to a close, you may have noticed one key similarity between each suggested author/theory: they are all men! One of our final individual theories offers a plausible, contextually accurate reason behind why the true author of the plays would conceal their identity, something which is not as clear cut with the other candidates presented thus far. The reason behind this author potentially attributing their work to William Shakespeare was because she was a woman.

Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke would have had every reason to assume a male identity or pseudonym. As touched upon previously, writing plays in the Elizabethan era was rather a lowly occupation for a man let alone for a respected noblewoman. The key to understanding why Sidney may have concealed her true identity as author, is understanding the contextual, historical gender issues of the time and throughout history in relation to female authors, which happens to be largely well documented and evidenced in literary history. You may already appreciate that much of history is dominated by male figures in politics and leadership, in literature, in invention and technology and this something that is also reflected in the domestic lives of our forefathers also. England in the 16th century was a patriarchal society, as it was before and as it was to be for hundreds of years hence. It is quite plausible that an aspiring female playwright would conceal her literary identity in order to publish her works, have them performed and to allow them to receive the respect and appreciation they deserve. If this is really what Mary Sidney did, then it certainly was not the first time a woman did this and would most definitely not be the last. This is something that is well demonstrated in the example of Mary Anne Evans who felt she had to write under the name of George Eliot, the name under which she was to become famous for novels such as 'The Mill on the Floss' and 'Middlemarch'. The fact that Eliot felt she must adopt a male name for her novels, in order for them to be recognised on their own merits and not immediately dismissed, is a key literary example of the prejudices female authors faced in the 19th century, some two hundred and fifty years after Mary Sidney's generation which makes it quite clear that her authorship would have been met with the same contempt, if not, worse.

Mary Anne Evans (pictured above), who had to change her name to a male equivalent in order for her to have her work recognised.

So, other than her motive, what other evidence do we have to put Mary Sidney in the authorship picture? Well, the first key point used by those theorists who put forward Mary Sidney as a candidate, I that the first folio of 'Shakespeare's' plays is dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery - Mary Sidney's two sons. In addition to this, records show that the Countess had estates on the River Avon, which would explain why Shakespearean scholars infer several influences from Stratford Upon Avon and the surrounding Warwickshire countryside. As you will be able to see below, to compliment this, Mary Sidney's crest bore a swan which, according to theorists in favour of Sidney, would explain why the famous playwright and poet, Ben Jonson, described Shakespeare as the ' sweet swan of Avon' (or could it have been because many swans frequent the stretch of the river upon which Stratford, Shakespeare's home town, lies?). Like other candidates, Mary Sidney was also very well educated and connected at the royal court as her uncle was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and her Brother was Sir Philip Sidney, the famed poet and patron of the arts - which would ultimately explain Mary's literary grounding. In addition to this, Sidney spent much of her time around literary people, having several of the poems of Edmund Spenser dedicated to her, and indeed had the capacity to write poetry herself, much of which is well documented along with an adaptation of the story of Anthony and Cleopatra, which theorists interpret to be an early draft of Shakespeare's 'Anthony and Cleopatra'.

So, what is stopping Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke being crowned as the true author of Shakespeare's works? Sidney, like so many of the other candidates, has one clear flaw in her theory - any connection with Shakespeare and his, very well documented, company who occupied two prominent London theatres putting on the plays we all associate with him. Does the feminist anti-Stratfordian argument convince you? Did Mary Sidney, like George Eliot, conceal her identity against her work in order to earn it the respect it deserved?

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Many thanks, M R W