Seven Steps to Mercy: Cracking the Shakespeare Code - Episode 2

Good morning we are continuing our exploration of William Shakespeare and the codes found in his work.  Did William Shakespeare exist?  Amundsen and Crumpton continue their exploration into the Shakespeare Code.  This time, a third character is introduced to being a possible author of Shakespeare’s plays.  This is the second episode in the series.  The run time for this episode is 53:41.

Amundsen and Crumpton meet again.  A sticking point in Crumpton’s mind is that the plays were written with such feeling, they could not have been written by the analytical mind of Sir. Francis Bacon.  However, Amundsen points out that the potential second author: is Neville.  Perhaps, he could have written with the feeling Bacon had lacked.  Amundsen found codes connected to Neville and based his theories on the book The Truth Will Out by Brenda James.  Amundsen then turned to Shakespeare’s Sonnets and turned to the introduction to the book of sonnets.

At first, Amundsen could not understand James’ methods, however, he eventually found a way to understand her method.  Both he and Amundsen talks about understanding codes and how codes are open to interpretation.  They talk about Henry Neville.  He died at the same time Shakespeare died, it was at the same time that there were no more Shakespeare plays.  Amundsen believes that since Henry Neville died, there would be no more plays.  Amundsen continues to offer more codes, and he pulls out the letter written by another contemporary poet.

Crumpton visits Shakespeare’s grave with Amundsen.  It is visited by people from all around the world.  The inscription on the grave is intriguing.  There is no name on the gravestone, instead, a short poem is written on it.  It contains a curse against opening the tomb.  The poem in general is considered of poor quality.  There was an older stone on the headstone that had been moved.  The inscription on the tomb was written in what was called the Bacon cipher.  This is a code that had not been broken.  Together Crumpton and Amundsen examine the text and notice that both William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon are found in the code.

Amundsen believes that Bacon paid Shakespeare off to act as the frontman for the plays.  Writers in the background would be the ones writing the plays.  They then turn to a wall above the tomb.  It is a memorial dedicated to William Shakespeare.  It was put up a few years after his death and compares him to the ancient writers.  Amundsen points out the codes in the plaque.  He points out that the age mentioned in the plaque could be wrong as well as points out that Bacon and Neville are in mentioned in the plaque.  Amundsen believes that Bacon wrote the epitaph on the Shakespeare memorial.

Crumpton then takes his time to learn more about Henry Neville.  They stop at the Neville family home and look at a portrait of the man.  He notes that he looks like Henry Neville.  Crumpton also examines the bust of Shakespeare that was on the memorial plaque.  The bust was put on the memorial a few years after his death.  There was an image of the bust published in the 1700s.  however, the picture does not match was is on the memorial.  Crumpton thinks it could have been a bad job or the picture was a fanciful interpretation.  Amundsen believes that the original bust was a masonic symbol and this puts Dr. Crumpton on a new path in exploring Shakespeare and the code.  So what was happening?  Is Crumpton falling into the coding trap?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about the Shakespeare Code.

You have to give Dr. Crumpton credit for pursuing this quest.  I know I would think that the guy was nuts and would just walk away.  He was patient and was willing to give the argument a chance.  At times I struggled to follow Amundsen’s logic, so I have to give major props to Dr. Crumpton for attempting to follow the logic.  This would be something to show in an English literature class to spark debate.

Heads up for this episode, there seemed to have been blips in the upload that made it choppy at times.