Outline
• Introductiona.Brief explanation of the topic
b.Why the topic?
• Body
1.Shakespeare’s life
2.Sexuality
a.Plays
b.Sonnets
• Conclusion
a.Summary
b.Personal Opinion.
Sexuality in Shakespeare’s Life and Works
To begin with, it will be very useful to consider that William Shakespeare’s sexuality has been an issue and a mistery during the time. That is to say, there are several myths about his sexual condition seeing that he showed significant relationships between men and disguised women as men in his works. This situation causes certain doubts about his sexual life’s choice. The truth is that the sexuality of this important individual inside the the world of literature has been always a mistery. Now, considering sexuality as a controvertial and sometimes difficult topic, I decided to focus my essay on it having Shakespeare’s life and works as the main referent. Moreover, thinking that sexuality is an every day topic, I wondered how to connect it with my future English classes as a second language teacher. Certaintly, it would not be a simple task. But, taking in consideration all the meaningful things that literature could give you to enrich lessons and students’ minds, it becomes in an excellent tool to apply sexuality, or any similar topic, inside the classroom. Otherwise, if the teacher knows how to utilize it, literature will be connecting the objectives of the lesson and student’s real life situations.
William Shakespeare, who was and is a famous English writer and stands out for his 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 poems, was born in a small country town named Stratford in the United Kingdom. Eventhough, the date he was born is unknown, it is said that it was possibly on April 1.564. His parents were John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. According to some Shakespeare’s biographies it is said that he went to King Edward VI Grammar School in central Stratford, where he recived most of his latin grammar and literature education, but it is unknown if he had any studies or education in university. At the age of 18, during November 1.582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was three months pregnant. After that, they had 2 more children. At this point Shakespeares’ life and family seemed to be normal. Then in 1.585, Shakespeare started to live a succesful period in his life. He was a writer and actor, and he became one of the owners of a playing company. After that succesful period, Shakespeare left Stratford and died in 1616. In spite of his death, William Shakespeare was a well known and respected writer but, what is for sure, he was considerable questioned for his private life. After some researchs, he was believed to have a hidden side in his life.
There has been several speculations and doubts about Shakespeare’s sexuality. Eventhough he got married and had children, he was believed to have bisexual or homosexual leanings. Taking in consideration the book of Ann Thompson, “Shakespeare and Sexuality”, which says that Shakespeare showed his sexual, homosexual and bisexual side through what he wrote, “it is innevitable to see some erotic effect of his language and the use of sexual metaphors in some of his sonnet and plays” (25). That is how, Shakespeare demonstrate an outstanding and suspectful favoritsm for homosexual and homoerotic interpretations in four of his plays. For example, in “Twelfth Night” with the character of Viola disguised as Cesario, and in “As you like it” with Rossalind disguised as Ganymede. In the following two plays, it is very easy to percive homoeroticism, which refers to an intense platonic friendship, rather than sexual love. For instyance, “Romeo and Juliet” with the strong relationship between Romeo and Mercutio, and finally “The Merchant of Venice” with the inexplicable friends-lovers relationship between Antonio and Bassanio. These situations lead several beliefs about how Shakespeare wanted to show sexual desires and leanings through characters and their experiences. Apart from that, most of the theories are highly related, inferening from the analysis of his sonnets, a controvertial and credible proof for his possible bisexuality or homosexuality. William Shakespeare wrote 158 sonnets but 128 were about love and dedicated to a handsome young boy. These poetic forms are the principal evidence that he wrote about an erotic interest in men. For example, in sonnet 20 Shakespeare reffers to a master-mistress and a mother nature that felt in love with a woman, but to resolve the problem she added one thing that will give women pleasure, that could be interpreted as a pennis. Even in my own limited experience about analyzing sonnets I would say that maybe there is another explanation for that sexual approach. Maybe, Shakespeare’s sonnets are not autobiographical or about his life, but they are just fiction. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to imagine that Shakespeare did not wrote about him, because he uses the personal pronoun “I” in most of the sonnets. Taking in consideration the article found in Shakespeare-Online, it is important to say that many readers and reserchers consider Williams Shakespeare’s sonnets as the closest contact they can get to Shakespeare’s own voice.
Taking everything into account, Shakespeare’s sexuality will be always a mistery. Realising that he tried to demonstrate a normal married life with his wife and children he could not do it. Moreover, William Shakespeare showed and expressed his real and prohibited side through writing and literature, that now and analyzing it, we could understand. That is why, I deeply believe that analyzing certain literal factors can give us specific information about the author’s life. Moreover, studying an author’s life it would be a good way to keep student’s interest in reading. They will know that there is something hidden, an especial message the writer wants to communicate in his work, that, certaintly, will be an excellent tool for them. In a way, it will make personal connections, sometimes transporting them into a character’s life, problems, struggles and goals and then applying them to their real life. Besides, if you want to talk about sexuality it would be very useful to bring sonnet 20 to the classroom. This way students will give different responses making them create emotional connections to literature, for example, making sense of the autho’r words and today’s people. The most important thing is that student could be able to read, analyse, criticise and connect what they read.
William Shakespeare, who was and is a famous English writer and stands out for his 38 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 poems, was born in a small country town named Stratford in the United Kingdom. Eventhough, the date he was born is unknown, it is said that it was possibly on April 1.564. His parents were John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. According to some Shakespeare’s biographies it is said that he went to King Edward VI Grammar School in central Stratford, where he recived most of his latin grammar and literature education, but it is unknown if he had any studies or education in university. At the age of 18, during November 1.582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was three months pregnant. After that, they had 2 more children. At this point Shakespeares’ life and family seemed to be normal. Then in 1.585, Shakespeare started to live a succesful period in his life. He was a writer and actor, and he became one of the owners of a playing company. After that succesful period, Shakespeare left Stratford and died in 1616. In spite of his death, William Shakespeare was a well known and respected writer but, what is for sure, he was considerable questioned for his private life. After some researchs, he was believed to have a hidden side in his life.
There has been several speculations and doubts about Shakespeare’s sexuality. Eventhough he got married and had children, he was believed to have bisexual or homosexual leanings. Taking in consideration the book of Ann Thompson, “Shakespeare and Sexuality”, which says that Shakespeare showed his sexual, homosexual and bisexual side through what he wrote, “it is innevitable to see some erotic effect of his language and the use of sexual metaphors in some of his sonnet and plays” (25). That is how, Shakespeare demonstrate an outstanding and suspectful favoritsm for homosexual and homoerotic interpretations in four of his plays. For example, in “Twelfth Night” with the character of Viola disguised as Cesario, and in “As you like it” with Rossalind disguised as Ganymede. In the following two plays, it is very easy to percive homoeroticism, which refers to an intense platonic friendship, rather than sexual love. For instyance, “Romeo and Juliet” with the strong relationship between Romeo and Mercutio, and finally “The Merchant of Venice” with the inexplicable friends-lovers relationship between Antonio and Bassanio. These situations lead several beliefs about how Shakespeare wanted to show sexual desires and leanings through characters and their experiences. Apart from that, most of the theories are highly related, inferening from the analysis of his sonnets, a controvertial and credible proof for his possible bisexuality or homosexuality. William Shakespeare wrote 158 sonnets but 128 were about love and dedicated to a handsome young boy. These poetic forms are the principal evidence that he wrote about an erotic interest in men. For example, in sonnet 20 Shakespeare reffers to a master-mistress and a mother nature that felt in love with a woman, but to resolve the problem she added one thing that will give women pleasure, that could be interpreted as a pennis. Even in my own limited experience about analyzing sonnets I would say that maybe there is another explanation for that sexual approach. Maybe, Shakespeare’s sonnets are not autobiographical or about his life, but they are just fiction. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to imagine that Shakespeare did not wrote about him, because he uses the personal pronoun “I” in most of the sonnets. Taking in consideration the article found in Shakespeare-Online, it is important to say that many readers and reserchers consider Williams Shakespeare’s sonnets as the closest contact they can get to Shakespeare’s own voice.
Taking everything into account, Shakespeare’s sexuality will be always a mistery. Realising that he tried to demonstrate a normal married life with his wife and children he could not do it. Moreover, William Shakespeare showed and expressed his real and prohibited side through writing and literature, that now and analyzing it, we could understand. That is why, I deeply believe that analyzing certain literal factors can give us specific information about the author’s life. Moreover, studying an author’s life it would be a good way to keep student’s interest in reading. They will know that there is something hidden, an especial message the writer wants to communicate in his work, that, certaintly, will be an excellent tool for them. In a way, it will make personal connections, sometimes transporting them into a character’s life, problems, struggles and goals and then applying them to their real life. Besides, if you want to talk about sexuality it would be very useful to bring sonnet 20 to the classroom. This way students will give different responses making them create emotional connections to literature, for example, making sense of the autho’r words and today’s people. The most important thing is that student could be able to read, analyse, criticise and connect what they read.
Bibliography
Elliot, Joan. Dupuis, Mary. Young Adult Literature in the Classroom.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexuality_of_William_Shakespeare
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/merchant/
Schoenbaum, Sam. William Shakespeare: Una biografia documentada. Barcelona España. Argos 1985
Thompson, Anne. Shakespeare and Sexuality.
