Calvin Hoffman

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Calvin Hoffman was an American theater press agent and writer who popularized the controversial notion that playwright Christopher Marlowe was the actual author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. The idea that someone other than the William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays attributed to him did not originate with Hoffman (see Shakespearean authorship) and Hoffman was not the first to suggest Marlowe.

A recent film by Michael Rubbio, "Much Ado About Something" (released 2001) provides a relatively detailed outline of Hoffman's theory. Hoffman's complete Marlowe theory can be found in his book "The Murder of The Man Who Was Shakespeare". Published in 1955, it is long out of print. Like other alternate Shakespearean authorship theories, Hoffman's claims have been largely dismissed by mainstream Shakespearean scholars.

Calvin Hoffman's basic Marlowe-as-Shakespeare theory can be outlined as follows:

1. Various details of the life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon make it extremely unlikely that he was the author of the works attributed to him.

2. Shakespeare seems to suddenly appear on the scene with no prior works at approximately age 30 almost immediately after Christopher "Kit" Marlowe supposedly died.

3. Marlowe did not die at Deptford on 30 May 1593. He faked his death because the Privy council was planning to hand him over to Archbishop John Whitgift and his Star Chamber. The details of this alleged plot are outlined in the "Marlowe's death" section of the Christopher Marlowe article.

4. Marlowe escaped, likely by boat down the Thames, to Italy where he lived on for many years. He continued to write, sending plays and sonnets back to England where they were presented to the public by one William Shakespeare, who was merely a front man.

5. Hoffman listed hundreds of alleged similarities between the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare. Calling them "parallelisms", he claimed they were clear evidence that Marlowe and Shakespeare were one and the same.