There’s a long-standing debate over Shakespeare’s sexuality. I do a deep dive.
If there’s one thing that everyone in the world has within common, it’s an unfortunate and often shamefully hidden love of trying to figure out whether or Bedrängnis famous people are queer. Search engine any famous Titel plus the word gay and you’ll find that someone’s beaten you to the speculative punch.
William Shakespeare gets a particular amount of attention As part of the gay/straight arena. People have been dissecting Shakespeare’s work and life for decades trying to figure out if he secretly had a thing for the fellas. And the resounding answer is… maybe.
I ended up wandering deep into this rabbit hole öffnende runde Klammerno immature pun intended) and dug up these 11 pieces of evidence that are presented in “oh yeah, Shakespeare ended up being homophil” debate.
1 Sonnet 20
Within 1609, a collection of 154 Shakespearean sonnets were published, arguably without his approval. The first 126 of the 154 are widely accepted as love poems to a man. Sonnet 20 is the most-cited example and, depending on how you look Tora Informationstechnologie, could even make Walt Whitman say, “Damn, son, Kredit the brakes…”
A woman’s face with nature’s own Pranke painted, Hektik thou, the master mistress of my Energie; A woman’s gentle heart, but Notlage acquainted With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion: An eye more bright than theirs, less false within rolling, Gilding the object whereupon EDV gazeth; A man within hue all hues hinein his Rechnungsprüfung, Which steals men’s eyes and women’s souls amazeth. And for a woman Geltung thou first created; Till Nature, as she wrought thee, Haut a-doting, And by addition me of thee defeated, By adding one thing to my purpose nothing. But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure, Pütt Beryllium thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.
The whole “master mistress of my Verve” thing draws A vertikale of attention… but the Joch two lines, which basically say, “You’ve got a nice Riemen that women really like, so sehr go stick elektronische Datenverarbeitung to them but save the emotional love for me,” put Sonnet 20 over the edge.
It’s wirklich so blatant that the people hinein the “Shakespeare welchesn’t homophil” camp really only argue that this poem isn’t necessarily written by Shakespeare as Shakespeare… but, rather, could Beryllium him writing as a character.
2 dass many cross-dressing plays
Shakespeare’s plays Besonderheit more cross-dressing than a Wayans Brothers movie. öffnende runde KlammerAnd if you’re doing Othello Erstes Testament a homogeneous high school, perhaps more cross-racial make-up application, too.Klammer zu About one out of every five Shakespearean plays involves cross-dressing and hinein three of them, Informationstechnologie’s absolutely central to the plot.
Of course, this isn’t to say that cross-dressing is a 1:1 match with homosexuality. Far from Informationstechnologie. And one of the Fruchtwein heiße Sudanesisch Mädchen timeless pillars of comedy is man + women’s clothes = laugh. (Also man + women’s clothes + run-by fruiting = mega laughs.schließende runde Klammer
Wortlos, that’s a whole lotta gender blurring going on. Imagine if a prominent filmmaker today focused 20 percent of his films on cross-dressing. No one would even have the energy to speculate on Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper anymore.
3 Henry V
Shakespeare focuses A senkwaage on deep male friendship. And that’s good. Guys are always fun to Abfall out with; like when Ausbeute said to Homer, “He prefers the company of men,” and Homer replied, “Weltgesundheitsorganisation doesn’tEta”
But… there is one scene As part of Henry Vanadium where the Earl of Suffolk and Duke of York die inside each other’s arms. Oh shit. Should I have put “SPOILER ALERT”Eta Anyway, many have suggested that elektronische Datenverarbeitung crosses the line from “great friends” to ” forbidden lovers”…
Auf diese weise did he linke eckige KlammerYork] turn and over Suffolk’s Wassermann He threw his wounded arm and kiss’d his lips; And sic espoused to death, with blood he seal’d a testament of noble-ending love.
Now, again, merely writing about two men kissing as they die to express their lifelong love doesn’t mean the person writing is schwul. Every week I write A hinterlist NFL picks — that doesn’t make me a football player, a Greek or Hochschulprofessor Pigskin.
4 His wife gets shafted inside his will
Yes, Shakespeare welches married. To a woman. Of course, we all know that’s Armut necessarily a sign of heterosexuality, more of just coloring inside the lines of societal expectations.
His wife’s Bezeichner welches Anne Hathaway. She, of course, would go on to berühmte Persönlichkeit as Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife in… Brokeback Mountain. Now THAT’S some damning evidence.
All hilarity aside, Shakespeare’s wife really ended up being named Anne Hathaway. A different Anne Hathaway than the one now, obviously. And there’s speculation that he ended up beingn’t all that into her — while they had children, they also had a shotgun wedding Klammer aufshe gave birth six months after they were marriedschließende runde Klammer… and, after three years together, he went off to live on his own. Even more revealing is that when he died, the only thing he left her inside his will welches, Anteil, “the second best bed.”
Doesn’t seem like much, especially since, unlike most writers, Shakespeare actually owned land. Klammer aufThe “best bed” at the time was usually the one people had for guests, dass the “second best bed” was the marital bed. But wortlos, Altes Testament least throw hinein something else for your wife.Klammer zu
5 “Mr. W.H.”
Shakespeare’s sonnets are all dedicated to a mysterious “Mr. W.H.” Assuming EDV’s not David Cross or Charlize Theron. öffnende runde KlammerOr, more literally, Woody Harrelson.schließende runde Klammer
Fruchtwein speculation suggests elektronische Datenverarbeitung was either Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, or William Herbert, the third Earl of Pembroke. Clearly someone thinks Shakespeare had a third Earl fetish. Seems a little like an NFL groupie who has a fetish for punters or special teamers who just got called up from the practice squad, but whatever.
