Aug 29, 2008

William Shakespeare | Was Shakespeare a homosexual?

From time to time (and especially in our own age) it has been suggested that William Shakespeare was either gay or bisexual. Secondary (and flimsy) support for Shakespeare's homosexuality comes from the numerous examples of cross-dressing and other forms of gender confusion in the plays. We do know that King James I, England's ruler and one of the Bard's patron's was openly gay. But it is to the "young man cycle" of his Sonnets that the proponents of a gay Shakespeare turn. The first 126 of Shakespeare's numbered sonnets are addressed to a young man, whom the narrator admires for his...