Oxfordians see Oxford's marriage to Anne Cecil, Lord Burghley's daughter, paralleled in such plays as Hamlet, Othello, Cymbeline, The Merry Wives of Windsor, All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Winter's Tale.

Despite this, Oxfordians list numerous incidents in Oxford's life that they say parallel those in many of the Shakespeare plays.

Some Oxfordians believe that Shakespeare acted as a " front man ," receiving the plays from Oxford and pretending to have written them, but others claim that he was simply a merchant from Stratford who had nothing to do with the theatre.

Oxfordians deduce from the works that the author must have been an aristocrat of great formal learning, intimate with the Elizabethan court and widely travelled through the countries and cities mentioned in the plays.

Though Oxford died in 1604 before approximately 12 of the plays were written according to the generally-accepted chronology, Oxfordians say that regular publication of new, " newly augmented ", and " corrected " Shakespeare plays stopped with Oxford's death in 1604, and they interpret certain written references to Shakespeare between 1604 and 1616 to mean that the writer was dead.

Although most Oxfordians agree on the main arguments for Oxford, the theory has spawned schismatic variants that have not met with wide acceptance by all Oxfordians, although they have gained much attention.

While there is no documentary evidence connecting Oxford ( or any authorial candidate ) to the plays of Shakespeare, Oxfordian researchers, including Mark Anderson and Charlton Ogburn, believe the connection is provided by considerable circumstantial evidence inferred from Oxford's connections to the Elizabethan theatre and poetry scene ; the participation of his family in the printing and publication of the First Folio ; his relationship with the Earl of Southampton ( believed by most Shakespeare scholars to have been Shakespeare's patron ); as well as a number of specific incidents and circumstances of Oxford's life that Oxfordians believe are depicted in the plays themselves.

" Oxfordians have dealt with this problem in several ways.

Although searching Shakespeare's works for encrypted clues supposedly left by the true author is associated mainly with the Baconian theory, such arguments are commonly made by Oxfordians as well.

Oxfordians believe the title ( Shake-Speares Sonnets ) suggests a finality indicating that it was a completed body of work with no further sonnets expected, and consider the differences of opinion among Shakespearean scholars as to whether the Sonnets are fictional or autobiographical to be a serious problem facing orthodox scholars.

Beginning with Looney, most Oxfordians ( exceptions are Percy Allen and Louis Bénézet ) have asserted that the " Fair Youth " referred to in the early sonnets refers to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, Oxford's peer and prospective son-in-law.

In lieu of any evidence of the type commonly used for authorship attribution, Oxfordians discard the methods used by historians and employ other types of arguments to make their case, the most common being supposed parallels between Oxford's life and Shakespeare's works.

Oxfordians also claim that the fact that a number of the later plays ( such as Henry VIII, Macbeth, Timon of Athens and Pericles ) have been described as incomplete or collaborative is explained by these plays being either drafted earlier than conventionally believed, or simply revised / completed by others after Oxford's death.

Oxfordians often identify titles or descriptions of lost works from Oxford's lifetime suggesting a thematic similarity to a Shakespeare play and assert that they were earlier versions.

For example, many 18th-and 19th-century scholars, including Samuel Johnson, Lewis Theobald, George Steevens, Edmond Malone, and James Halliwell-Phillipps, placed the composition of Henry VIII prior to 1604, as they believed Elizabeth's execution of Mary, Queen of Scots ( the then king James I's mother ) made any vigorous defence of the Tudors politically inappropriate in the England of James I. Oxfordians cite these sources to place the composition of the play within Oxford's lifetime.

Early Oxfordians found many references to Oxford's family name " Vere " in the plays and poems, in supposed puns on words such as " ever " ( E. Vere ).

Oxfordians claim that flattering treatment of Oxford's ancestors in Shakespeare's history plays is evidence of his authorship.

The Dark Lady is believed by some Oxfordians to be Anne Vavasour, Oxford's mistress who bore him a son out of wedlock.

Oxfordians argue that at the time of the passage's composition ( pre-1589 ), the writers referenced were not in print, and interpret Puttenham's passage ( that the noblemen preferred to ' suppress ' their work to avoid the discredit of appearing learned ) to mean that they were ' concealed '.

Oxfordians say the first of these phrases could refer to one of Edward de Vere's manors, Bilton, near the Forest of Arden, in Rugby, on the River Avon.

Professor Jonathan Bate, in The Genius of Shakespeare ( 1997 ) stated that Oxfordians cannot " provide any explanation for … technical changes attendant on the King's Men's move to the Blackfriars theatre four years after their candidate's death ....

Oxfordians argue that this refers to the fact it was new on stage, having its first production in that year.

Although most Oxfordians accuse mainstream academics of rejecting their theory only because they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, they often cite the work of individual scholars to create the appearance of widespread agreement on an issue, even when the opinion in question is more widely considered eccentric or outdated.

The great volume of literature on Shakespeare makes it easy for Oxfordians to find mainstream scholars who have expressed opinions favourable to their theory.

Shakespeare's use of it in All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure followed his sources for the plays ( stories by Boccaccio and Cinthio ); nevertheless Oxfordians say that de Vere was drawn to these stories because they " paralleled his own ", based on Osborne's anecdote.

Some Oxfordians also believe the non-Shakespearean play The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth was another play written by Oxford, based on the exaggerated role it gave to the 11th Earl of Oxford.

Based on Sonnets 81, 72, and others, Oxfordians assert that if the author expected his " name " to be " forgotten " and " buried ", it would not have been the name that permanently adorned the published works themselves.

Ned compares her to the fictional Zuleika Dobson for her effect on her fellow Oxfordians.

Oxfordians say this is similar to Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, who was indebted to Shylock for 3, 000 ducats against the successful return of his vessels.

The word Ape means pretender or mimic, and Oxfordians maintain the writer whose silent name is bound by one letter is Edward de VerE, although Marston calls the passage an example of " hotchpodge giberdige " written by bad poets, and nowhere does Marston mention Oxford explicitly as a poet, bad or otherwise.

Oxfordians claim that the conventional dates for the plays were developed by mainstream scholars to fit within Shakespeare's lifetime and that no evidence exists that any plays were written after 1604.

Oxfordians believe these two passages, when linked, support their claim that Oxford was one of the most prominent " suppressed " writers of the day.

Oxfordians also note that when de Vere travelled through Venice, he borrowed 500 crowns from a Baptista Nigrone.

" Oxfordians argue that this supports their own position, since there is no evidence that William Shakespeare ever left England, but Oxford undoubtedly visited the area.

Other Oxfordians say that de Vere's extant work is that of a young man and should be considered juvenilia.

" He, too, is from Padua, and his name is Baptista Minola, which Oxfordians take to be a conflation of Baptista Nigrone and Pasquino Spinola.

The meaning of Dromio ’ s line has not been satisfactorily explained by critics, but Oxfordians say the line is somehow connected to the fact that de Vere was given a £ 1, 000 annuity by the Queen, later continued by King James.

Oxfordians also assert that the tone of the poems is that of a nobleman addressing an equal rather than that of a poet addressing his patron.

However, Oxfordians ( as adherents of the theory are usually called ) reject the historical record, often proposing the conspiracy theory that the record was falsified to protect the identity of the real author, and invoking the dearth of evidence for any conspiracy as evidence of its success.

Oxfordians interpret the plays and poems as autobiographical and use them to construct a hypothetical author, a method most literary specialists consider unreliable as far as attributive value.

" Oxfordians also consider it significant that the nearest town to the parish of Hackney, where de Vere later lived and was buried, was also named Stratford.

Oxfordians also believe that Rev.

Almost half of Shakespeare's plays are set in Italy, many of them containing details of Italian laws, customs, and culture which Oxfordians believe could only have been obtained by personal experiences in Italy, and especially in Venice.

Oxfordians also believe other texts refer to the Edward de Vere as a concealed writer.

Later Oxfordians have generally abandoned this argument.

Further, attribution studies, which have shown certain plays in the canon were written by two or three hands, are a ' nightmare ' for Oxfordians, implying a ' jumble sale scenario ' for his literary remains long after his death.

Oxfordians also say that the author of Shakespeare's works stopped writing in 1604, evidenced by the cessation of regular publication of Shakespeare's plays in that year.