The Key to Hidden Messages in Shakespeare's Works: Edward de Vere in Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” Speech

Introduction:

In this post, I’m going to examine Hamlet’s famous “To be, or not to be...” speech.

I’m going to use some of Alexander Waugh’s research in this post. Alexander Waugh proposed that the number 1740 (forty) was associated with Edward de Vere:

With astounding ingenuity Oxford succeeded in aligning his name, title and earldom number to the ‘blessed Trinitie’ using the numbers 17 and 40, while mirroring the same (40 and 17) in his chosen pseudonym. In simple gematria the letter V (the 20th letter of the Latin Ro-man alphabet) is 20. Double V (‘VV’) therefore equals 40 (there being no W in the Latin alphabet). Thus ‘VVilliam Shakespeare’ as printed in Jonson’s title represents the number 40 followed by 17 letters ‘ILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’ which, as stated, ingeniously evoke associations with Pallas-Minerva (patron goddess of the playwrights) with her spear-shaking will at Ilium.

‘Double V’ (‘VV’) which contracts Oxford’s motto, Vero nihil Verius – meaning nothing truer that Vere/Truth– is found on a Vere family seal ring (before 1578), and was used as a pseudonym subscribed to a prefatory letter in a pamphlet by Oxford’s servant, John Lyly. The letter ends ‘yours at an houres warning Double V’, which may be numerologically translated ‘yours 1740’.

Waugh, A. (2023d). ‘My beloved the AVTHOR’: the subtext of Ben Jonson’s first Folio encomium to William Shakespeare. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 37(2), 255–269. https://doi.org/10.31275/20233115

See also, Alexander Waugh. (2022b, January 28). The incalculable genius of John Dee [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-PWR7-0Hp4

Therefore, the numbers 17, 40, 57 (17 + 40 = 57), and 1740 are significant indicators pointing to Edward de Vere.

Hamlet:

Enter Hamlet.

1710 Ham. To be, or not to be, that is the Question:

Whether 'tis Nobler in the minde to suffer

The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune,

Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them: to dye, to sleepe

1715 No more; and by a sleepe, to say we end

The Heart-ake, and the thousand Naturall shockes

That Flesh is heyre too? 'Tis a consummation

Deuoutly to be wish'd. To dye to sleepe,

To sleepe, perchance to Dreame; I, there's the rub,

1720 For in that sleepe of death, what dreames may come,

When we haue shufflel'd off this mortall coile,

Must giue vs pawse. There's the respect

That makes Calamity of so long life:

For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time,

1725 The Oppressors wrong, the poore mans Contumely,

The pangs of dispriz'd Loue, the Lawes delay,

The insolence of Office, and the Spurnes

That patient merit of the vnworthy takes,

When he himselfe might his Quietus make

1730 With a bare Bodkin? Who would these Fardles beare

To grunt and sweat vnder a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The vndiscouered Countrey, from whose Borne

No Traueller returnes, Puzels the will,

1735 And makes vs rather beare those illes we haue,

Then flye to others that we know not of.

Thus Conscience does make Cowards of vs all,

And thus the Natiue hew of Resolution

Is sicklied o're, with the pale cast of Thought,

1740 And enterprizes of great pith and moment,

With this regard their Currants turne away,

And loose the name of Action. Soft you now,

The faire Ophelia? Nimph, in thy Orizons

Be all my sinnes remembred.

Hamlet (Folio 1, 1623) :: Internet Shakespeare Editions. (2019, January 11). https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_F1/complete/index.html

Analysis:

“To be, or not to be, that is the Question...”

"To be" translated into Danish is at være, which is pronounced like "a Vere" or "E. Vere." If the Danish word at in at være is treated as an English word and translated into Danish, it becomes ved, which when spelled backwards is "de V" or "de V[ere]". Google Translate pronounces it like "VU", and "VU" was the same as "VV" in the Old Latin alphabet. Because V is the 20th letter in the Old Latin alphabet, double-V is forty (40). Therefore, the words “to be” when translated into Danish result in a pun on the name de Vere and a number associated with his name— 40.

Consequently, the first few words of Hamlet's speech can be read "To be a de Vere, or not to be a de Vere, that is the question."

“To be, or not to be, that is the Question...”

In Latin, the words “or not” translate into an non, which is a homophone for the English word “anon,” which means “soon.” The Latin word for soon is mox1 or iam, so the message “I am mox” can be found. Mox is a pun on “ox,” and the letter “M” (from mox) is linked to the Hebrew letter mēm מ‎, which has a numerical value of 40 in Gematria. The number 40 (pronounced “for-D”) is Edward de Vere’s code number. Therefore, [L.] mox can be transformed into “ox-for-D,” and so the message becomes “I am Oxford.”

Also, “[i]n the Sefer Yetzirah, the letter Mem is King over Water,”2 and so is an allusion to the idea of “King of the Sea,” which may, in turn, be an allusion to the office (i.e. Lord High Admiral) held by Edward de Vere’s real father, Thomas Seymour.

“To be, or not to be, that is the Question...”

The word "that" translated into Danish is fordi (pronounced "Four-D"), "is" is [Da.] er (pronounced "heir"), "the" is [Da.] de. Thus, the message is "forty [Edward de Vere] is the heir." As noted above, the number 40 is associated with Edward de Vere.

Another Danish term for “that” is for at (“that, in order that, so that”). The Latin word forat is a homonym of [Da.] for at. The Latin word forat is the third-person singular present active indicative of forō,3,4 which is a pun on “four-oh” (i.e. 40) and means “to bore.” The word “bore” is, in turn, a pun on “boar,” and Edward de Vere had a blue boar in his coat of arms.5

“To be, or not to be, that is the Question...”

The word "question" translates into the Danish word sag (pronounced like "say"). This can be transformed into a Latin word— sagum— by adding –um to the end of sag. Of course, the Latin word sagum has a completely different etymology and meaning than the Danish word sag, but that is the point, this is part of the wordplay. In Latin, a sagum is "a military cloak" and "Saga sumere, to put on the saga, i.q. to take up arms, prepare for battle (it was the custom for all Romans to do this, in token of preparation for war, even those who were not going to the field, excepting persons of consular rank)."6

The word "mere" (in sumere) can mean "(dialectal or literary) A body of standing water, such as a lake or a pond (formerly even a body of seawater), especially a broad, shallow one. (Also included in place names such as Windermere.)" (One etymology of "mere" is "From Middle English "mere," "mer," from Anglo-Norman "meer," from Old French "mier," from Latin "merus" (“pure, unmixed, undiluted”), from Proto-Indo-European "*mer-" (“to sparkle, gleam”).)

Therefore, [L.] sagum is a link to Hamlet's line later in the speech: "to take arms against a sea of troubles." (See below.)