Toil and trouble: research links Shakespeare to disputed play

A play called “Double Falsehood” published in 1728 by a man who claimed it was based on a lost Shakespeare play but has long been dismissed as a forgery may indeed be the real deal. University of Texas researchers have unveiled a sophisticated new study of “Double Falsehood” that used text-analysing software that helped create a “psychological signature” of the playwright. “Double Falsehood” was published by Shakespeare expert Lewis Theobald, who said it was based on Shakespearean manuscripts later destroyed in a fire. Many experts considered it an original work by Theobald that he sought to pass off as Shakespearean.

I am quite confident that Shakespeare had a direct hand in writing ‘Double Falsehood.’ Put me down for 97 percent confident.

University of Texas social psychologist James Pennebaker, co-author of the study published in the journal Psychological Science

Pennebaker and fellow University of Texas social psychologist Ryan Boyd examined 33 Shakespearean plays, 12 by Theobald and nine by John Fletcher, Shakespeare’s occasional collaborator. The texts were scrutinized for the use of pronouns, articles and prepositions, words relating to emotions, family, sensory perception and religion and other qualities. In doing so, the researchers formulated a psychological signature for each author. “Really, there’s just very, very little similarity to Theobald,” said Boyd, “to the point that it is practically impossible that he wrote it.”

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