Shakespeare, Arden of Faversham, and Four Forgotten Playwrights

Abstract This essay attempts to identify the primary author of Arden of Faversham, a play published anonymously in 1592, widely regarded as the first, and perhaps the best, domestic tragedy in English. Although many scholars now believe that Shakespeare wrote a small part of this play, there is no consensus about the authorship of most of it. This essay focuses on four Elizabethan playwrights whose extant work does not contain any securely identified single-author plays: Thomas Achelley, Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye, and Thomas Watson. It surveys the documentary evidence of their careers and reputations, and closely examines the literary style, originality, and variety of their extant work. This survey decisively rules out the first three, and provides strong and consistent evidence for Watson’s authorship. It identifies a new source for the play (Ovid’s Remedia Amoris), demonstrates its close connections to the 1591 royal entertainment at Elvetham, links the ahistorical role of Protector Somerset to Watson’s relationship with the Earl of Hertford, and argues that the play combines the earliest extant domestic tragedy with the earliest extant city comedy.