‘An unpublished letter by Sigmund Freud on the Shakespeare authorship question’

ABSTRACT

This article provides the text of the English translation of Sigmund Freud’s previously unpublished 1935 letter to Percy Allen, the only known letter in which Freud expresses his unqualified support for the theory that ‘William Shakespeare’ was the pen name of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550–1604). The article summarizes the literature on Freud’s authorship views, showing that scholars who disagree with Freud on this matter have minimized his opinion by pathologizing it, or emphasizing Freud’s reservations about the matter. The prevailing theory as to who wrote Shakespeare, on close examination, turns out to be based primarily on circular thinking, confirmation bias, tradition, authority, groupthink, and enforcement of a taboo against the presentation or objective consideration of conflicting evidence. In addition, it originated before we had a better understanding of the high frequency of anonymous, pseudonymous, and allonymous literature in Elizabethan England. The reputations enjoyed by leading Shakespeare scholars lead nonspecialists to assume that these experts can be trusted to tell us who wrote Shakespeare. Unfortunately, Shakespeare scholars falsely claim absolute certainty that they know that ‘Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.’ Freud’s dissenting opinion has been supported by increasing evidence since 1935.

KEYWORDS:

• Sigmund Freud
• Shakespeare Authorship Debate
• Edward de Vere
• Earl of Oxford
• Oxfordians

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. James S. H. Bransom, to whom Freud wrote on 25 March 1934 (quoted in Ernest Jones, vol. 3, pp. 457–458). Bransom had just published The Tragedy of King Lear, Oxford: Blackwell, 1934.

2. Bernard M. Ward (1893–1945), like his father, was an authorship skeptic. He wrote The Seventeenth Earl of Oxford from Contemporary Documents London: John Murry, 1928. However, his publisher did not allow him to express his opinion that de Vere wrote the works of Shakespeare.

3. Gerald Henry Rendall (1851–1945) was an Oxfordian who wrote Personal Clues in Shakespeare Poems & Sonnets, London: John Lane, 1934.

4. Freud is expressing his skepticism as to Allen’s theory that Edward de Vere’s illegitimate son by Queen Elizabeth was the Earl of Southampton, to whom Shakespeare’s two long poems were dedicated.

5. Unpublished letter to Percy Allen, 7 November 1935, courtesy of Jerome Oremland. Translation by Mrs Shera Atkinson, with ‘small changes’ by Percy Allen.

6. It is helpful to distinguish between the author’s name Shakespeare, and Shakspere, the merchant of Stratford who is still thought by many to have been the great author.

7. Oremland asked Sklarew to share his email with me.

8. Looney (Thomas, 1920). ‘Shakespeare’ Identified in Edward de Vere. London: C. Palmer.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard M. Waugaman

Richard M. Waugaman is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and 2012–2016 Faculty Expert on Shakespeare for Media Contacts, Georgetown University. He serves as Training & Supervising Analyst, Emeritus, Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.