Communications of the ACM
Computer Program Proves Shakespeare Didn't Work Alone, Researchers Claim
Four scenes in The Reign of King Edward III, which was published anonymously in 1596, had traces of Shakespeare's hand.
Credit: www.nashfordpublishing.co.uk
An expert on William Shakespeare at the University of London has used plagiarism-detection software to determine that Shakespeare co-wrote the unattributed play The Reign of King Edward III.
The Pl@giarism software, developed by researchers at the University of Maastricht to detect whether or not students are cheating, enabled Sir Brian Vickers to compare language used in the play, published anonymously in 1596 when Shakespeare was 32, with other plays of the period. Plays with different authors tend to have up to 20 common phrases of three or more words. "The computer is picking out three-word sequences that could just be chunks of grammar," Vickers says. "But when you get metaphors or unusual parts of speech, it is different." Pl@giarism found 200 matches of phrases in the play with Shakespeare's works published before 1596, with the matches coming from four scenes, or about 40 percent of the play.
The software also found about 200 phrases that matched the language of the works of Thomas Kyd, another popular playwright during the period, in the remaining scenes, which indicates he wrote the other 60 percent of the play.
From Times Online (United Kingdom)
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