Shakespeare's Sister: Mary Vere Bertie and What She Tells Us About Shakespeare (Dorothea Dickerman)

This talk by Dorothea Dickerman was presented on September 20, 2025, at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Conference in New Haven, Connecticut, which focused largely on women and the authorship question.

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You can check out this 30-minute introduction to “Who Really Wrote Shakespeare?”:    • Who Really Wrote Shakespeare? Shakespeare ...  

See also Tom Regnier’s engaging 90-minute talk, introduced by renowned director Joseph Adler at the historic Gable Stage Theatre in Florida:    • Tom Regnier — Did Shakespeare Really Write...  

The best concise overview on the internet is our SOF “Authorship 101” page (“12 Reasons to Question Who Wrote Shakespeare”): https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.o...

Dickerman examines a fascinating woman you may never have heard about. In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf famously imagined a sister of William Shakespeare as a gifted but forgotten woman whose genius was stifled by Elizabethan society. But what if she really existed? Meet Mary Vere Bertie, younger sister of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, believed by many to be the writer behind the pen-name “Shakespeare.” Dickerman explores Mary’s profound influence on her brother and his evolving portrayal of women in the Shakespearean canon. Going beyond suggestions that Mary was a model for Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, Dickerman contends that Mary’s courage in the face of adversities, and determination to live on her own terms, transformed her brother’s perspective on women and helped create the Shakespearean heroines we still love today. Mary was a living model for the author’s evolving portrayal of strong female characters deserving respect for their own intellect and agency.

Dorothea Dickerman retired from a 34-year career, culminating as partner in a large international law firm, to focus on her passion for researching, writing, and lecturing on Shakespeare and the authorship question. Using her legal skills, primary historical and literary source documents, and travels to locations where Oxford lived and visited, she gives context to the author’s life and writings and to Tudor law, history, politics, and personalities. Dorothea earned her B.A. from Amherst College (summa cum laude in English and Political Science) and her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Her foreign language skills include Italian, French, and rusty Latin. She is a current Trustee and past President of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship.

See also Dorothea’s personal website exploring Elizabethan history and literature: https://www.dorotheadickerman.com/

Her talk on Countess Anne Cecil de Vere:    • Dorothea Dickerman – The Roar of the Mouse...  

Her talk on Countess Elizabeth Trentham de Vere:    • Dorothea Dickerman – Elizabeth Trentham an...  

Her talk on “Traveling Together Through Shakespeare’s Italy: Part I, The North”:    • Shakespeare in Northern Italy: Travelling ...  

Her talk on “Traveling Together Through Shakespeare’s Italy: Part II, Sicily”:    • Shakespeare in Sicily: Traveling Together ...