What are four reasons some scholars give for concluding that Shakespeare would not have written the plays?

Answer 1

There are no reasons Shakespeare did not write the play Macbeth. Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth. At a point prior to publication a selection of scenes from Thomas Middleton's The Witch were added; these scenes were not written by Shakespeare and could be behind your confusion.

Answer 2

No scholars believe that Shakespeare could not have written his plays. The people who do so are not scholars.

Their arguments are some variation on the following: "In order to write such great plays, the author must have had certain qualities, qualities that William Shakespeare, the well-known Stratford native, actor and theatrical businessman did not have."

E.g.

"In order to write about nobles, the author must have been a noble, and Shakespeare wasn't"

"In order to write about women, the author must have been a woman, and Shakespeare wasn't"

"In order to write about foreign countries, the author must have been well-travelled, and Shakespeare wasn't"

"In order to understand legal issues dealt with in the plays, the author must have been a lawyer, and Shakespeare wasn't."

"In order to use such great language, the author had to be a university graduate, and Shakespeare wasn't"

"In order to have read all the books he is supposed to have, the author must have been someone who owned a huge library, and Shakespeare wasn't"

"In order to have written such uplifting stuff, the author must have been someone far divorced from grubby business matters, and Shakespeare wasn't"

Unfortunately, the history of literature shows that this kind of reasoning does not hold water. J.K. Rowling did not have to be a boy to write about the problems of teenaged boys. Agatha Christie did not know the first thing about detectives when she started writing detective stories. Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage without any war experience about a war that took place before he was born. Nobody seriously doubts that Rowling wrote Harry Potter, Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage or Christie wrote a lot of detective stories.

One argument which does hold water is that in order to have written something you need to have been alive at the time. Shakespeare was. Oxford wasn't.