Edward de Vere – Character Study

The Earl of Oxenford was a talented,
academic, sporty and volatile man.
He was a compulsive spendthrift
and depleted his inherited estates
to finance his expensive habits.
This was one of the reasons that
he spent much of his life in litigation.

He was impulsive, innovative and inventive;
unusual, unstable and unreliable.
He was proud, egotistic and self-indulgent.
He had personal integrity and was
defiant of authority, but with a sense
of rights and freedoms.
He was dynamic, competitive and progressive.
He was also a gambler.
He had a vibrant interest in philosophy
and other cultures.
He could be gullible, and unwilling
to be decisive. He showed good
intention that could be easily deceived.
He was curious and inquisitive, with
a love of learning that lasted a lifetime.
He needed to confront his dark and
hidden side, which might have been linked
to his childhood. He suffered from depression.

He had a violent side to his character
and was directly and indirectly
Involved in swordfighting.
This sometimes resulted in death.
Violence is found in several of his works.

He was overtly sexual and spent time
in Italy with prostitutes and young boys.
He had to come to terms with deep emotions
of grief, anger and pain.
He was influenced by his dreams,
fantasies and spiritual inspiration.
He had great powers of observation.
He needed to balance idealism, optimism,
and vision with reality.
His plans were sometimes thwarted.
He was moved by bold heroic drama.
He also liked romance and comedy.
He was inclined to be showy and to
scatter his energy.
He was verbally skilful and would
make up a word if he couldn’t find one existing.
He was socially sophisticated, witty,
intelligent, soulful and smart.
He was playful and good-humoured, but truthful.

His judgment was sometimes questionable,
and he should have been careful not to be
taken advantage of by those in his service.
He valued devotion and loyalty.
He instinctively understood people,
but could also be fooled by the talented.
He should have been aware that so-called friends
sought to exploit him.

He found expression in the subtle and polished,
as well as in the blunt and coarse.
He was very gifted with descriptive phrases,
sayings and complicated stories.
He was subject to betrayal and was
aware of spying, which he combatted.
He was an expert in seriousness and humour.
He was able to mine the fundamentals
of humanity for our benefit.
He was a master of disguises and
crossed purposes.

He realized that disguise was
a way to confront power.
It was a form of liberation
and a way of telling the truth
without being tagged a villain.
He should also have realized that
people can get trapped in other identities
and then have to function there.

He understood the individual and the group,
and he gained the wisdom that comes with experience.
He searched successfully for truth,
and his work is timeless.