Relative contributions of Shakespeare and Fletcher in Henry VIII: An Analysis Based on Most Frequent Words and Most Frequent Rhythmic Patterns
This work addresses authorship attribution in historical literature, offering incremental improvements in methodology for scholars in literary studies.
The study tackled the problem of determining the relative contributions of Shakespeare and Fletcher in the collaborative play Henry VIII by analyzing vocabulary and versification with machine learning, using a rolling attribution approach that disregards scene boundaries. The results strongly support the canonical division between Shakespeare and Fletcher and provide new evidence for modifications proposed by Thomas Merriam.
The versified play Henry VIII is nowadays widely recognized to be a collaborative work not written solely by William Shakespeare. We employ combined analysis of vocabulary and versification together with machine learning techniques to determine which authors also took part in the writing of the play and what were their relative contributions. Unlike most previous studies, we go beyond the attribution of particular scenes and use the rolling attribution approach to determine the probabilities of authorship of pieces of texts, without respecting the scene boundaries. Our results highly support the canonical division of the play between William Shakespeare and John Fletcher proposed by James Spedding, but also bring new evidence supporting the modifications proposed later by Thomas Merriam.