Defending Shakespeare

[myshkin]

There is the notion that the true author of the extraordinary plays of Shakespeare was not Shakespeare at all, but that these works were falsely attributed to the famous bearded actor. The theory goes that the actual author was an infinite number of monkeys banging away on typewriters in some hidden part of London; a scientific experiment conducted by some deranged Svengali to satisfy his lust for literary masterpieces & animal cruelty, though perhaps not in that order. Presumably, knowing the works of greatness produced by the monkeys would be simply ignored &/or ridiculed if their true authorship were known, he paid this William Shakespeare actor to pretend to their creation.
The main problem with this ludicrous hypothesis is, of course, the inconvenient truth that typewriters were not in existence at this point in history. One could also attack the argument from the side of logistics; acquiring the monkeys, feeding the monkeys, hygiene, analysing their output, etc... but valid though such an approach would be, it is rendered superfluous by the howitzer blow of the typewriter point.

[froopy seal]

Another counter-argument: That "hidden part of London" would have to be quite spacious to accommodate "an infinite number of monkeys"...

[koisk]

If I see a pig flying across Area 51 holding the Loch Ness Monster in it's tail while Bigfoot and Andy Kaufman ride upon it's saddle, calling Walt Disney to get the party back together then I might reconsider this as a valid possibility. Both of these, however, seem highly unlikely.

[sanakan]

Originally Posted by froopy seal

Another counter-argument: That "hidden part of London" would have to be quite spacious to accommodate "an infinite number of monkeys"...

nah', they did all fit neatly into hilbert's hotel.

[myshkin]

Originally Posted by froopy seal

Another counter-argument: That "hidden part of London" would have to be quite spacious to accommodate "an infinite number of monkeys"...

True also, but possibly if there were some massive hidden underground areas available, perhaps warehouses for Catholics hiding during the persecution of the Reformation, then this might be accounted for, though I agree that this is also a problem for the monkey hypothesisers.