What does Hamlet tell us about Shakespeare's identity?

Hamlet was given to the public along with other Shakespearean plays in 1623 with the publication of the First Folio. Since then, it has exploded into international success having been made into numerous books, movies, and commentaries. As stated by Richard F. Whalen, "from Hamlet's first appearance in the play to his dying words, echoes of Oxford's life are everywhere" (107). Hamlet was a deeply disturbed character, plagued with grief from the death of his father, the incestuous marriage of his mother to his uncle, and the arranged marriage of himself to conniving Polonius's daughter, Ophelia. This is an almost mirror image of the troubled life of Edward de Vere. Nothing shows this more than the treacherous Polonius, mentor to the young Danish prince, and Lord Burghley, mentor to the young earl.

Polonius, a main antagonist of Hamlet, "has long been considered as a caricature of Lord Burghley, Oxford's guardian and then father-in-law"(108). The principal evidence of this is shown through Polonius's speech to Laertes about the rules of virtue for the honorable man. These virtues are strikingly similar to the rules of virtue that Lord Burghley had created for his pupils. Burghley's rules were not published until several years after Oxford and Shakspere had perished, indicating that only someone with knowledge of Burghley would know the virtues.

While in his mid-twenties Oxford pondered the question of whom to turn his earldom over to in the event of his death, and Horatio, de Vere's favorite cousin, was a leading candidate. Hamlet leaves his kingdom, the true story of the corruption of the court, and the secret of his madness in the hands of his faithful companion to tell to the world. Edward de Vere also left a great secret with his Horatio. de Vere supposedly left his manuscripts with Horatio, and it was Horatio who brought forth the publication of the First Folio.

--Joseph Matthews

Source:

Whalen, Richard F. Shakespeare: Who Was He? Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1994.

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