Calvin Hoffman, born Leo Hochman (died 1987), was an American theater press agent and writer who popularized the notion that playwright Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...

 was the actual author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

. His theory was detailed in his 1955 book, The Murder of The Man Who Was Shakespeare.

The idea that someone other than the William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon wrote the plays attributed to him did not originate with Hoffman (see Shakespearean authorship question) and Hoffman was not the first to suggest Marlowe.

Hoffman's basic Marlowe-as-Shakespeare

Marlovian theory

The Marlovian theory with regard to the Shakespeare authorship question is a fringe theory that holds that the Elizabethan poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe did not die in Deptford on 30 May 1593, as the historical records state, but rather that his death was faked, and that he was the main...

 theory can be outlined as follows:

1. Various details of the life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon make it extremely unlikely that he was the author of the works attributed to him.
2. Shakespeare seems to suddenly appear on the scene with no prior works at approximately age 30 almost immediately after Christopher "Kit" Marlowe supposedly died.
3. Marlowe did not die at Deptford
   Deptford
   Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
   
    on 30 May 1593, but faked his death because the Privy council
   Privy council
   A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
   
    was planning to hand him over to Archbishop John Whitgift
   John Whitgift
   John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
   
    and his Star Chamber
   Star Chamber
   The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...
   
   .
4. Marlowe escaped to France and Italy where he lived on for many years. He continued to write, sending plays and sonnets back to England where they were presented to the public by one William Shakespeare, who was merely a front man.

Hoffman listed hundreds of alleged similarities between the works of Marlowe and Shakespeare. Calling them "parallelisms", he claimed they were clear evidence that Marlowe and Shakespeare were one and the same.

Hoffman and his wife bequeathed funds for an annual prize, administered by King's School, Canterbury, for an essay on the subject of Marlowe and the Shakespearean authorship question.

A film by Michael Rubbo

Michael Rubbo

Michael Dattilo Rubbo is an Australian filmmaker who has written and directed over 50 films in documentary and fiction....

, Much Ado About Something (released 2001) provides a relatively detailed outline of Hoffman's theory. Like other alternate Shakespearean authorship theories, Hoffman's claims have been largely dismissed by mainstream Shakespearean scholars.

External links

• The International Marlowe-Shakespeare Society. ("Our Belief is that Christopher Marlowe - in his day England's greatest playwright - did not die in 1593 but survived to write most of what is now assumed to be the work of William Shakespeare.")
• The Marlowe Society
• The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection (a Marlovian website/blog started in May 2008, with regular contributions from the world's leading Marlovians.)