#shakespeare #edwarddevere #alexanderwaugh
This video essay is based on my article "Deceivers Ever: Political Motives of the 18th-Century Wits Who Knew", published in the Fall 2024 Edition of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Newsletter. Oxfordian scholars such as Bonner Miller Cutting, David Shakespeare, and Alexander Waugh have carefully documented how a group of artists, politicians, and aristocrats that I have termed "the 18th Century Wits Who Knew" took steps to intentionally mislead the public about Shakespeare's true identity. Alexander Pope, Lord Burlington, William Kent, David Garrick, and others were aware of the fact that Edward de Vere was the true author of Shakespeare's Works, so why did they conduct a series of hoaxes to bolster the Stratford man's claim? And what, if anything, did it have to do with the Freemasons? Learn more about this, their culture war against Robert Walpole, and the modern day parallels to Trump in this 10 minute essay!
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