This week, we're talking about a MAJOR history conspiracy theory surrounding the gender of the most famous playwright of all time. Although it's a major debate, often shrouded in polarizing opinions, the true identity of the Bard is still one of significant mystery with lots of ideas on whether or not the man we know as William from Stratford-Upon-Avon could actually have been the author behind the most famous plays in history. We discuss a controversial article from The Atlantic that sparked a debate about whether or not Shakespeare could have been a female author under a pseudonym (such as Emilia Bassano), as well as the resulting response articles supporting or debunking the theory. We also talk about the knowledge that went into the works, the people suspected of being the true author, and what it was like to be a woman in the 16th-century world of Shakespeare. 

Articles: Was Shakespeare a Woman? by Elizabeth Winkler, Shakespeare Wrote Insightfully About Women. That Doesn’t Mean He Was One by James Shapiro, Shakespeare Didn’t Write Alone by David Scott Kastan, The Hidden Women Writers of the Elizabethan Theater by Phyllis Rackin, Keep Questioning Shakespeare’s Identity by Mark Rylance

Episodes to check out after this one: The Forgotten Female Horror Writers of the 19th Century, Vanessa Bell & Virginia Woolfe, Aphra Behn

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