Was Shakespeare gay? Some experts think so – but not all can agree
Some of the top Shakespeare experts around the world have become embroiled in a debate over whether the legendary playwrightās sonnets prove that he was gay.
The row broke out after a book review claimed that Sonnet 116 appeared in āa primarily homosexual contextā.
Later, the review was condemned by Sir Brian Vickers, a visiting professor at University College London, who wrote to the Times Literary Supplement, saying the claim was an āanachronistic assumptionā because experts now accept that some forms of rhetoric allowed men to express love in a way which does not mean sexual attraction.
Continuing, Vickers said that it was futile to suggest that there was anything biographical in the sonnets, as Shakespeare wrote professionally under a āpoet-personaā.
Some have criticised Vickersā comments, however, including āfriendly acquaintanceā Arthur Freeman, who said Sir Brian was promoting āone of the great fallacies of modern Shakespeare criticism.ā
Freeman wrote: āI cannot think of any responsible editor ā¦ who would dismiss the premise of homosexual, as well as heterosexual passion pervading [the sonnets].
āWhy should Shakespeare alone be thought so committed to the ānegative capabilityā of his dramatic craft that all his most personal writings are treated as potentially artificial?
āAnd even if we insist on regarding the sonnets, wholly or in part, as a kind of long-term dramatic narrative ā¦ why on earth would Shakespeare choose so often to impersonate a pathetically ageing, balding, lame and vulnerable bisexual suitor, abjectly whingeing about rejection and betrayal ā unless the self-humiliation that surfaces again and again through these particulars were both genuine and cathartic?ā
The Chariman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Stanley Wells also criticised Sir Brian, writing: āWhen a poet whose name is William writes poems of anguished and unabashed sexual frankness which pun on the word āwillā ā 13 times in [Sonnet] No 135ā¦ it is not unreasonable to conclude that he may be writing from the depths of his own experience.ā
Despite their differences of opinion, Sir Brian said there was āno bad bloodā among the experts.
Someone with a more clear-cut opinion on the matter is Sir Ian McKellen.
Back in 2012, Sir Ian said: āIād say Shakespeare slept with men.
āThe Merchant of Venice, centring on how the world treats gays as well as Jews, has a love triangle between an older man, younger man and a woman.
āAnd the complexity in his comedies with cross-dressing and disguises is immense. Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women.ā
