Theories on Shakespeare's Lost Years

        Of course, in order for William Shakespeare to have put so much knowledge into his plays, he must have had significant amounts of knowledge on various subjects. One theory was that he "was employed while he yet remained at Stratford, in the office of some country attorney..." (Poems and Plays, 1790). Shakespeare references law in many of his plays, such as in his play Hamlet, when Hamlet says this to Horatio, “Why, may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillities, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this mad knave now to knock him about the sconce  with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries ,his fine pate full of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will scarcely lie in this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?”         Another theory on Shakespeare's lost years is that he practiced medicine, because his knowledge of dysfunctions of the human mind and sicknesses. For example, in the play The Winter's Tale, the character Camillo, presents the idea that someone can carry a disease without having it. “This is a sickness Which puts some of us in distemper, but I cannot name the disease; and it is caught Of you that yet are well.” Though, some claim that his knowledge of medicine came from Shakespeare's friendship with John Hall, it is more widely thought that Shakespeare himself was a doctor. Shakespeare knew of diseases, the causes of them, and how to treat them.         Although there are many theories on what Shakespeare did in those twelve years, there is no way to truly know what happened. Perhaps he read about all of these things. Perhaps he befriended many who had knowledge in different areas. Perhaps even, he asked for help from others who knew of such things and they wrote parts of his plays, but who knows?