Tell Me What You've Read and I'll Tell You What You Can Write: Mental Models and Shakespeare's Authorship Question 400 years after the First Folio

This article assumes that the performance of intellectual activities presupposes a corresponding Mental Model. The mental model of a man of letters like Shakespeare is based on his intellectual experience derived from access to libraries and books, attentive reading, experience in the court issues, traveling and mastering languages. The article raises the hypothesis that William of Stratford had a Mental Model as a businessman and not as a man of letters, author of Shakespeare's works. This hypothesis is based on existing information about Willian's intellectual background, as well as on recently discovered information about his activities as a grain merchant, theater owner and manager. The method used to support my hypothesis is to point out all the possible references contained in Shakespeare's works, showing that William could hardly have had access to these references, as he did not have books, there were no libraries at his disposal and he was not in the habit of reading. Some authors mention that Willian could have overcome this difficulty through the use of friend´s libraries, but there is no indication that this actually happened. The paper also mentions that the most likely candidates for Shakespeare's authorship (Francis Bacon and Edward De Vere) had wide access to books and libraries, intellectual training and the habit of reading and studying, necessary for the formation of the mental model represented in the constructions. Finally, the article concludes that the Mental Model framework can be a complementary and promising tool to help clarify the question of Shakespeare's authorship.