Shakespeare discovered only now

WI Shakespeare play were somehow unknown and somehow he wrote all or most of them and they were suddenly discovere dnow

Would they be like as much?
 
If Christopher Marlowe or some other Elizabethan playwright ends up taking all the fame that Shakespeare would attain OTL, then I doubt that he'd be as famous. He'd have an uphill battle against the centuries-old cult of personality involving Marlowe or whoever.

However, there might be a possibility that if your POD occurs, no one would fill the void left by Shakespeare in the literary canon. The world would largely ignore Elizabethan drama and its contributions to literature, with the exception of some non-mainstream scholars. In that case, Shakespeare has no contemporaries to compete against. The only problem would be whether or not modern audiences would appreciate the beauty of Shakespeare's antiquated form of speaking. And since there wouldn't have been a few centuries of scholars studying the language he used and the references that he made in his work. So, it would be more difficult in this TL for everyone to understand exactly what is being said in his plays.
 
Alternatively, what if it was Shakespeare not Marlowe who was killed in Deptford in 1593. Would Marlowe have the amount of fame now that Shakespeare does IOTL?
 
Alternatively, what if it was Shakespeare not Marlowe who was killed in Deptford in 1593. Would Marlowe have the amount of fame now that Shakespeare does IOTL?

Marlowe, unfortunately, didn't have the same technical skill that Shakespeare displays.

Shakespeare's work actually embodies quite a jump forwards towards modern dramatic conventions. Prior to him, drama looked back a lot more to Medieval theatre- if you read Marlowe's Tamburlaine, for example, it plays out very much like a series of tableaus without the fluid plot and character development that Shakespeare used- Marlowe's Dr Faustus comes nearer to Shakespeare but he was still comparatively raw and underdeveloped when he died.

In many ways Shakespeare was the flagbearer of a paradigm shift in English drama and a TL without him would be very different.

At the very least we'd be linguistically poorer- Shakespeare coined or popularised a surprising number of words and phrases.

You can never underestimate Shakespeare- the man was a genius, one of those few unique Great Minds that sometimes enter our world.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
 
I have to agree with Flocc. He was a GENIUS.

But if discovered only just today Shakespear would not gain as much fame as he has today. But he would generate interest, a lot of research but he'd probably not be put very often on stage sadly.
 
Shakespeare invented thousands of words, as well as many phrases we still use today:

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise - why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut, tut! for goodness' sake! what the dickens! but me no buts - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare. (Bernard Levin. From The Story of English. Robert McCrum, William Cran and Robert MacNeil. Viking: 1986).

http://shakespeare.about.com/library/weekly/aa042400a.htm
 
Top