Was William Shakespeare the original evil one-percenter? According to the Los Angeles Times, a new study suggests he was:
The Bard of Avon, who championed the downtrodden in plays like “Coriolanus,” was a conniving character in his personal life, British researchers claim — a tax dodger who profiteered in food commodities during a time of famine.
William Shakespeare was fined repeatedly for illegally hoarding grain, malt and barley for resale during a time of food shortages. He also was threatened with jail for avoiding taxes, according to the study of court and tax archives by researchers at Aberystwyth University in Wales.
The profits were channeled into real-estate deals, the researchers wrote, making Shakespeare one of Warwickshire’s largest landowners…
By the way, we aren’t so sure that a literary “championing of the downtrodden” is a proper interpretation of Coriolanus. That’s pretty much the opposite of the play’s meaning. But nevermind–no one goes to the LA Times for commentary on Shakespeare, right?
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