Did Shakespeare Really Write The History of Cardenio?
…….Existing evidence from old documents and handwriting analysis strongly suggests, but does not prove, that William Shakespeare and John Fletcher wrote The History of Cardenio. However, the quality of the writing in the playgood but not up to the standard of Shakespeare’s better playssuggests that if Shakespeare did have a hand in its writing, he played a minimal part. For example, there is a sparsity of lines that startle and dumbfound with the brilliance of typical Shakespearean imagery. And the formidable Shakespeare vocabulary seems somewhat reduced. …….Of course, it is possible that Shakespeare, like a used-up athlete trying to relive past glory, had lost his magic. Over the centuries, Elizabethan playwrights Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) and Cyril Tourneur (1575-1626) have also been credited with writing Cardenio (not as a joint project). Oddly, a play entitled The Revenger’s Tragedie (1607) was first ascribed to Tourneur but later ascribed to Middleton. …….Evidence l
