Did Shakespeare pen Marlowe?

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Just like the question asks. There are some scholars that say that Marlowe faked his own death. And that he sent his works to Shakespeare who pened his name onto Marlowes works.
Some of the evidence is very compelling. For instance, there are a lot of phrases in what is supposed to be Shakespeare's work that is very similar to phrases in Marlowe's works.
What do you think?

[ January 25, 2003, 09:10: Message edited by: Elios ]

 

Yes, the evidence IS compelling...Shakespeare and Marlowe were contemporaries. Samples of Shakespeare's handwriting show that it is quite crude, more like that of someone who is illiterate. On his gravestone is the sack o the merchant, not the pen of the writer. BUT...
Think about this too. Marlowe never achieved as much fame as Shakespeare. The brilliant tragedies (Macbeth, The Tempest...) are more likely to be the product of a mature individual who was NOT Marlowe, because Marlowe had already pretty much reached the prime of his writing when he died or disappeared.
And, superficially, of course they sound the same...lots of thou's, th'art's, and iambic pentameter.... But did Marlowe and Shakespeare really have the same insight into human nature?

 

What does it matter? You've written the length of their texts thrice within weeks on a single web-site.

The real question is... did Tiamat pen Elios? I think there's a conspiracy here which needs explaining.

 

What does it matter? Absolutely nothing at all. Same thing with a lot of other topics in here. Its simply a question I was looking to get someone's opinion on. Nothing more.
You know, if I read a topic and I don't like the subject, think its stupid or wonder "what does it matter" I don't even both responding and making other people read my response that has nothing to do with the topic.

 

I've often heard it the other way around -- that Marlowe wrote Shakespeare. I don't buy either argument for a second, though, despite whatever evidence gets thrown at me. I read Marlowe's version of the Faust story in university, and I read Shakespeare all the time. They don't sound that much alike to me. Sure, some stylistic elements are similar, but so are the styles of, say, Stephen King and Elmore Leonard. Some similarities, yes, but a WHACKLOAD of differences.