Software Reveals Possible Inspiration for 11 Shakespeare Plays

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – George North was a nobleman at Queen Elizabeth I’s court in the late 1500s. His ambitions drove him, among others, to write a manuscript that would never see the light of day. This was about the frequent rebellions against the monarchy. It might have also been the source of inspiration for several Shakespeare plays. 

The name North gave to his work was A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels, and it has been lying abandoned on a dusty shelf in The British Library since 1933. However, according to recent reports, a recent book might shock everyone as it comes with a new theory. According to this, William Shakespeare himself drew inspiration from that old manuscript.

Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter are the authors of this book which connects North’s obscure work to 11 of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. Macbeth, King Lear, and Richard III are among them.

The authors reportedly used a software called WCopyfind, which teachers usually use when they want to catch dishonest students.

Now, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that the authors are not saying that Shakespeare copied this manuscript. However, they point out that he surely drew some inspiration from its style and topics.

Are 11 Shakespeare Plays Indeed Inspired by an Obscure Manuscript?

Dennis McCarthy is the lead of this rather unusual research project. It all began back in 2006 when he became interested in finding out the source of inspiration for some of the most famous Shakespeare plays.

McCarthy reportedly couldn’t believe his eyes when he stumbled upon a 1927 auction catalog. This suggested that people should compare North’s Discourse to Shakespeare’s works.

After asking June Schlueter to help him, the pair tracked back the manuscript and found it in The British Library. Upon analyzing it with the plagiarism software, McCarthy and Schlueter detected some very rare words that were used in the works of both authors.

It seems that the most compelling proof of a possible plagiarism lays in the description of Jack Cade. In 1450, he led a failed rebellion against Henry VI. In the play Henry VI, Shakespeare describes the king’s death in great detail. At the same time, North used a similar description for Cade in his manuscript, along with the descriptions of two other rebels.

For years, famous figures like Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain, as well as specialists argued that William Shakespeare was nothing else but a name on the cover of a book.

The Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, “group theories” and Christopher Marlowe being the real author are just some of the most famous alternative candidates.

As it is, the authenticity of the Bard’s world-famous works might never be proven.

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