Genius

It seems to me the main argument of the Stratfordians is that Shakespeare's genius was such that he didn't need all that education. Marlowe, Jonson and other dramatists of the age all had university degrees, while there's no certainty that Shakesper even attended grammar school in Stratford.

Genius may account for a lot, but it can hardly grant knowledge. The clear familiarity with various works of literature, various places in Europe, history and philosophy is not something one can pick up from snatches of conversation in the pub, and in the absence of a library, Wikipedia and Google, there is no way Shakesper could have come by this knowledge. That is really the end of the story, I should think.

Reading Hamlet now, there's nothing particularly knowledgeable in the text so far, except perhaps for some familiarity with wars between Norway and Denmark. It strikes me again how many of our everyday expressions come from Shakespeare: to the manner born, more honored in the breach, method to his madness, etc. I'm tempted to highlight the lines I recognize -- so many -- but there's really little point in that. So I'm looking simply for lines that strike me:

But look, the morn in russet mantle clad
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill 

Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. 

It's not a memorable line, but the wit of Hamlet's answer when Polonius asks him what he is reading is remarkable: "Words, words, words."

One of the peculiarities of the Kindle versions, apparently, is that the line numbers contained in the print version don't get included. While the "footnotes" in the Signet edition don't appear at the foot, but just wherever they happen to be in the print edition, they contain line references that are useless, since the line numbers are missing. Also, I find most of the notes superfluous, though I'm sure they're helpful to high school students who are not as familiar with the wide range of meanings words can have.