Plagiarism software spots new source for Shakespeare

SCHOLARS have long argued about the inspiration for Shakespeare’s work. Now a piece of software, used for detecting plagiarism among university students, may have found the answer.

Researchers Dennis Mccarthy and June Schlueter believe that the Bard may have borrowed turns of phrase and plotlines from Rebellion and Rebels, a little-known 16th century manuscript by George North.

After feeding the text into the tool, called Wcopyfind, which is used by universities to check students have not plagiarised essays, the scholars found 20 matching passages between North’s tale and Richard III, Macbeth, Henry V and King Lear.

North was a figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth, serving as an ambassador to Sweden in the late 1500s.

North’s text includes similar plotlines, themes and scenes to those that appear in Shakespeare’s work, the researchers argue. But what is most convincing is the pattern of words which appear to be lifted from North’s tome.

To make sure that North and Shakespeare were not simply using a common source, Mr Mccarthy passed 17million pages from the Early English Books Online database through the software. Almost no other text contained the same words in passages of the same length, The New York Times reported.

“New sources for Shakespeare do not turn up every day,” said David Bevington, professor emeritus of the University of Chicago.

“The list of passages now traced back to this source is impressive.”