Shakespeare did not write Sir Thomas More.
There seems to be some evidence that he had a hand in it:
This is why Ian McKellen is Ian McKellan.
Accept no substitute, people.
Possible substitutes, which should not be accepted:
Ian MacAllan: a whisky of similar age to the actor, but without the wit. Also, a bottle of scotch.
Ian McCullen: a 700 year old vampire who hangs out in British high schools creeping on teenagers.
Ian McKellog: a Brit with an unhealthy fascination on using diet to suppress natural sexual development.
AAArgh! Attack-site-facebook link!
Most scholars think he wrote bits of it with Dekker; especially the monologue from Act 2, Scene 4 that McKellen performs here. Read it for yourself:
O, desperate as you are,
Wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,
That you like rebels lift against the peace,
Lift up for peace, and your unreverent knees,
Make them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!
Seems like the Old-Time Religion to me 
Heās done it elsewhere. It seems to be his go-to monologue 
I saw that later, pretty cool. I also seem to recall speculation he may have had a hand in translating the King James Bible as well.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
This is Psalm 46. The words in bold are the 46th from the start and the 46th from the end respectively. The King James Bible was translated in 1610, the year Shakespeare turned 46.
(This is the standard story, but my count āspearā is the 47th word from the end, not the 46th. Maybe Shakespeare was inconsistent about whether he used one-based or zero-based indexing.)
The Selah might not count, itās not really a word. But I also think that word-game is nonsense. Thereās probably bacon in there as well, somewhere.
And other food stuffs:
Is there no treacle in Gilead?
ā Jeremiah 8:22 according to Beckās Bible of 1549 (a.k.a. the Treacle Bible): the more conventional translation nowadays is ābalmā.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
