Shakey's Madness: Does a Mental Disorder Reveal the "Real" William Shakespeare?

By Robert Boog

Looking for a fun but informative read? 'Shakey's Madness' is a well-researched and well-rounded argument around the *real* author of 'The First Folio'. Using academic resources including The Folger Shakespeare Library, Los Angeles real estate broker Robert Boog sets out to prove to us that the real author of the work currently attributed to William Shakespeare was actually someone else. A person who experienced bipolar affective disorder, and this information may help us to uncover the true author of these Elizabethan plays and sonnets.

I can't say I've ever particularly doubted that Shakespeare's work was written by William Shakespeare; that is I was familiar with the theory that they were written by someone else, it had just never interested me enough to look into it. I was curious about 'Shakey's Madness' as a neutral observer, and I found that the author formed his arguments in a way that was entertaining, informative, and interesting. It reminded me of a university essay, with references to academics and further sources but I found it easy to follow along with. I feel this would be an interesting read regardless of which side of this particular argument you fall into.

A friend of mine called this book 'important' because Boog makes some original and controversial observations. Spoiler alert: in the end he leaves it up for the reader to decide if we agree with the argument put in front of us. I think that this book is an interesting one to ponder for those looking to learn more about the Oxfordian arguments as well as those looking for more evidence to support that theory. You might also learn something about the nuanced disorder of bipolar along the way which he seems passionate about. It got me wondering if anyone close to Mr. Boog might also suffer from bipolar disorder?

Entertaining, original and informative, I suggest you check out this book. It's a short, fun read that will have you talking about Shakespeare at your next dinner party.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ths international publishing
• Release date: Apr 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736512111

Book preview

Shakey’s Madness

Robert Boog

Shakey’s Madness: Does a Mental Disorder Reveal the Real William Shakespeare?

Copyright © 2021 Robert Boog.

All rights reserved.

Paperback ISBN:978-1-7365121-0-4

Library of Congress Control Number:2021901012

No portion of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form without the written permission of the publisher. For more information please contact:

THS International Publishing

23916 Lyons Ave.,

Newhall, CA 91321

ths-intl.info

Copyright Legal Notice and Disclaimer

This publication is protected under the US copyright act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state, and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights.

Please note that much of this publication is based on personal observations made by the author, and although the author and publisher have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions.

Any trademark, service marks, product names, or name features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

DEDICATION

––––––––

A big shout out to my wife, soulmate and best friend, Roxana. Thank you for your love and support and for allowing me to spend time during the pandemic in my man-cave. Tu eres mi querida. To my sons Brandon and Kevin, I am proud of you. Keep chasing your dreams.

You might just catch them!

Contents

Preface

Introducing Mr. Monk

Why Doubt Shakespeare’s Authorship?

Guilielmus Who?

A Grammar School Education

Two Messuages in 1575

Who was Oxford?

Lost Years or Lost Poems?

The Prima Facie Case & 4 Questions

Question#1: Who were Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern?

Question#2: Why So Much Fainting in the Canon?

Question #3: How would Stratford know about Scented Gloves?

Question #4:  Why the Odd Sum for Mourning Rings?

Mr. Monk’s Mental Health

Manic Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

Depressive Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder

Oxford’s Poetry

Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy Theory Explained

Richard Field

The Sonnets

Mad Real-Life Events

1604 and Mr. Monk

Hamlet’s Depression & Madness

Connecting the Dots

Bipolar Trait#1: Trust

Bipolar Trait# 2: Time

Bipolar Trait#3: Empathy

What Bipolar II Disorder Is Like

Final Thoughts

More Final Thoughts

My Dramatic Conclusion

About the Author

Sources

Index

Preface

I would like to share with you something that allegedly happened to me a couple of months ago. At my house, my main job besides feeding the dogs, and picking up the dog poop, is to take out the trash. Come Friday, I also wheel the three trash bins out to the street.

We have lived at the same house for over 20 years, and the trash truck comes on Friday morning.

I had a perfect record of taking the bins to the curb until a couple of months ago, when I slipped up. I forgot to bring the bins out to the street. But that is not such a big deal, is it? No.

But then the following week, I forgot again!

My wife was not a happy camper.  Robert. This cannot happen again. In fact, next week, you had better bring those bins out to the street by Thursday afternoon. Then she stomped off.

Fast forward to the following week. There I was on Thursday evening, wheeling the trash bins to the street when I caught my next-door neighbor doing the same thing. He took one look at me and started to laugh. He said, Dang, dude. You sure have a lot of trash!

I said, Yeah man, well, what about you?

He said, "Nah, we hardly have anything. See, we have been on vacation for the last two weeks."

That is when it dawned on me.

I had been using my neighbor's cue. Seeing his trash cans parked out on the curb was what had reminded me to bring out our trash cans.

And, when it comes to the authorship of William Shakespeare, most of us have a similar kind of blind allegiance. We have been told that William Shakespeare is the author of the poems, plays, and sonnets of William Shakespeare, and so it’s monkey see, monkey do. Why should we doubt it? In fact, if you do question it, some folks will say, "You must be crazy, because no legitimate scholar questions his authorship."

You might even be labeled a flat earth believer, a crank, or a conspiracy theorist and who wants that? 

But thousands of intelligent people HAVE doubted Shakespeare’s authorship. People like Sigmund Freud. Henry James. Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain. It has been going on for a long time!

Why doubt Shakespeare?

That is what this book is all about and I am going to offer you my own original opinion that the real author suffered from a mental disorder. But remember, the definition of an opinion is a belief based on that person’s facts and experience. I want you to gather some facts and think for yourself. I encourage you to fact-check me at the library or Google or Bing or YouTube or wherever you do your research.

What is my experience? I graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Literature. That is it. I enjoy the works attributed to Shakespeare. In fact, so much, I rewrote one of his sonnets. It was my instructor’s favorite too. You will hear about this  in this book.

And, when it comes to the authorship of William Shakespeare, most of us have a similar kind of blind allegiance. We have been told that William Shakespeare wrote the poems, plays, and sonnets of William Shakespeare, and so it’s monkey see, monkey do. Why should we doubt it? In fact, if you do question it, some folks will say, You must be crazy, because no legitimate scholar questions his authorship.

You might even be labeled a flat earth believer, a crank, or a conspiracy theorist and who wants that? 

But, thousands of intelligent people HAVE doubted Shakespeare’s authorship. People like Sigmund Freud. Henry James. Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain. It has been going on for a long time!

Why doubt Shakespeare?

That is what this book is about and I am going to offer you my own original opinion that the real author suffered from a mental disorder. But remember, the definition of an opinion is a belief based on that person’s facts and experience. You could have five different people tell you five different things. So, I want you to gather some facts and think for yourself. I encourage you to fact-check me at the library or Google or Bing or wherever you do your research.

What is my experience? I graduated from UCLA with a BA in English Literature. That is it. I enjoy the works attributed to Shakespeare. In fact, so much, I rewrote one of his sonnets. It was my instructor’s favorite too. You will hear about this experience in this book.

To be honest, for about 35 years I did not think that much about Shakespeare because I attended graduate school at the school of hard knocks.

I work in the highly competitive field of Los Angeles real estate. 

Listing homes, flipping homes, staging homes, selling homes, you name it and I have done it. Everything from selling vacant land to million-dollar mansions.

So, what this means to you is that I come from the world where all buyers are liars, agents cannot be trusted, and sellers often do not tell the truth.

One thing you do learn after dealing with sharks and very smart people is NOT to accept something to be true just because someone tells you it is true. You still have to verify it.

Therefore, with all that good stuff out of the way, let us have some fun as we get started with our own investigation.

Introducing Mr. Monk

I have a confession to make. I am a Monkaholic. It is true. One of my favorite TV detective shows is Monk and I have watched every single episode. The show features Tony Shalhoub who portrays a quirky, former police detective named Adrian Monk who has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and a wide variety of phobias which often help him to solve complex crimes.

In the episode, Mr. Monk Bumps His Head, for example, a case of amnesia helps Monk to rediscover his weaknesses and strengths. For Monkaholics like me, there is something extremely satisfying about watching Monk having to figure things out in a brand-new environment. He has over three hundred phobias including fears of milk, heights, and things out of balance. So, with his amnesia, when a woman tells Monk that she is his wife, and he believes her, it is almost cringeworthy to watch him do things that would normally horrify him. What is also interesting is hearing him talk about how he truly feels about himself, others, and his life. I mention this because even though Monk is not a writer, how he truly feels about himself is important to all writers. Even William Shakespeare.

But almost next to nothing is known about Shakespeare’s life, and most of what we do know, does NOT jive with the feelings found in his poems, plays and sonnets.

Yet playbills, the book of Sonnets and the First Folio which contains a collection of his thirty-six plays identify William Shakespeare as the author of the Shakespeare canon. Experts tell us he was