Shakespeare or not Shakespeare: that’s the question.
It’s the question posited by director Roland Emmerich’s latest offering, “Anonymous” — who really authored the 38 plays and 154 sonnets historically attributed to player/poem-slinger William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon?
Or as the film’s theatrical poster inquires, “Was Shakespeare a fraud?”
Emmerich — whose directorial qualifications as a Shakespearean critic include the tragedies important.”
From there, to the extent that Emmerich’s film focuses attention on the most significant body of work in the English language, I’m fine with “anonymous” Shakespearean authorship.
Shakespeare, de Vere or Marlowe — it doesn’t matter. Hell, you could say Tucker Max wrote them for all I care.
What’s in a name, after all?
As Juliet says, “That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as