The persona of Edward de Vere represents a contrast to the canonical, Stratfordian image of Shakespeare. His adulterous affair with a teenage girl half his age, his complicity in acts of treason against Queen Elizabeth, and the bankruptcy of his earldom due to his lavish spending all combine to paint a picture of a man contrary to the Stratfordian ideal.

However, it is this unattractive portrayal of him that supports the argument that de Vere wrote the sonnets, since the sonnets themselves offer up underlying messages of ridicule, deception, avarice, and sexual obsession that doggedly champion the author's own best interests above others. This work presents an Oxfordian reading of the sonnets and the problematic life of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.