“I Am Not a Freak!” Delia Bacon as a Dramatis Persona

Abstract

The paper sets out to explore the one-actor play by contemporary American dramatist James Armstrong focusing on Delia Bacon, a passionate mid-19th c. champion of anti-Stratfordian (Baconian) theory. The famous Romantic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne who played a certain role in Bacon’s life figures in the play as an off-stage character. Bacon’s dramatic monologue reveals, on the one hand, her prophetic zeal in upholding Francis Bacon’s authorship of Shakespearean canon, and on the other – her female frustration informing the play with tragicomic overtones.