What clues do the sonnets offer about Shakespeare's identity?

William Shakspere did write the sonnets. The answer is found when one picks apart sonnets 135, 136, and 143. In these sonnets the word "will" is the main clue that William Shakspere wrote the sonnets. In these sonnets Shakespeare is writing to a dark lady. The sonnets were personal memoirs and Shakspere never thought that anyone would ever read them.

In sonnet 135 we see that "will" is capitalized in some places and not in others. The fact that one is capitalized leads us to believe that it is the name of someone. The "will" that is capitalized is obviously a proper noun and could only be the name of someone: Shakspere. In some cases you have two "wills" in one sentence and one is found capitalized while the other is not. "For my name is Will," is the way that sonnet 136 ends. The authorship of the sonnets can be summed up in just this line. The word "will" is again capitalized in some places and not in others. In addition, not only is the "will" capitalized in this sonnet but it is also italicized. This shows that these "wills" are separate and have different meanings. The "Will" that is capitalized and italicized shows that it has to be a proper noun. The capitalization of some "wills" and not in others are also found in sonnet 143. These spelling differences are the main proof that the author of these sonnets is William Shakespeare.

--David Nagel

Sources:

Mitchell, John F. Who Wrote Shakespeare? New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996.

Sobran, Joseph. Alias Shakespeare: Solving the Greatest Literary Mystery of All Time. New York: Free Press, 1997.

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