The Left-handed Shakespeare Folio Portrait

This engraved portrait of Shakespeare on the title page of the Shakespeare Folio - the only picture of Shakespeare that has any claim to authenticity - has several very strange and deliberately executed details. The most noticeable of these is that Shakespeare's doublet is depicted with two left shoulders, one as seen from the front (Shakespeare's left-hand side) and one as seen from the back (Shakespeare's right-hand side). Why?

In Shakespeare's time 'left-handedness' was used to represent something cryptic or concealed. This is a tradition that goes back a long time and can be traced to the Jewish Cabalistic tradition. The Jewish Cabala was perceived to underlie the Christian teachings during the time of Ficino, when the European Renaissance was truly born. It was taught thereafter during the Renaissance as Christian Cabala and was part of the whole philosophical undercurrent of the Renaissance referred to loosely as the Platonic-Hermetic-Christian-Cabalistic tradition. This tradition entered and blossomed in England as the Rosicrucian movement at the time of Shakespeare.

The Rosicrucians were referred to (or referred to themselves) as the 'invisible brethren'. To see them (i.e. recognise them) one had to develop the 'eye of the eagle'. They lived openly amongst mankind, being an integral part of human society, yet (as Rosicrucians) remained invisible. This follows Cabalistic tradition, wherein part should be revealed and part kept hidden. Thereby the work can be accomplished. Symbolising this, the right-hand side is related to the sun and daylight whilst the left-hand side is associated with the moon and night: light and dark, revealed and hidden, open and secret.

An analysis of the Shakespeare works indicates strongly that 'Shakespeare' was not only part of the Rosicrucian movement and work but a central or leading part.

Peter Dawkins, 2006

(See the author's book, The Shakespeare Enigma)

The Francis Bacon Research Trust