was shakespeare a fraud or a plagiarist?

[billy]

I think the premise for Marlowe being Willy's ghost writer is a staged death, which seems an awful lot of effort for anyone to go to considering he was already quite a successful playwright/poet in his own (heavily indebted) name and suggests a great deal more forethought than most poets are actually capable of, given we're a procrastinating bunch as a rule. As for most of the other theories, I think a few too many people have taken the Gwyneth Paltrow version as fact

It is true that we've become jaded to Shakespeare simply by his ubiquitousness. My aversion to his sonnets likely comes from little more than an inescapable horror of all things soppy and overly sentimental -- though he really did flog that poor expired pony to an horrific degree.

I would rather remember the silly Willy, the man who could destroy his enemies with a single phrase.

Shakespearean Insult Generator

i suppose marlow doing it for pay would be out of the question?
not that i think he did. as for a staged death. it would have been a lot easier in their day. i can't remember where but i heard marlow enjoyed a gamble, maybe dying off was more beneficial than death. if wiki is anything to go by, staging his death could have been a necessity;

Christopher Marlowe[1] (baptised 26 February 1564; died 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian,[2] next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.

A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593. No reason for it was given, though it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphemy—a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain "vile heretical conceipts". On 20 May he was brought to the court to attend upon the Privy Council for questioning. There is no record of their having met that day, however, and he was commanded to attend upon them each day thereafter until "licensed to the contrary." Ten days later, he was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer. Whether the stabbing was connected to his arrest has never been resolved