Sexuality of William Shakespeare

The sexuality of William Shakespeare has been the subject of recurring debate. It is known from public records that he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children; scholars have analyzed their relationship through these documents, in particular through the bequests to her in Shakespeare's will. There has been speculation that he had affairs with other women, based on contemporary writings of others anecdotally recounting such affairs and possibly on the "Dark Lady" figure in his sonnets. Scholars have also speculated that he was bisexual, based on an analysis of the sonnets, many of which, including Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day", are love poems addressed to a man, the "Fair Lord", and which contain plays on words relating to sexual desire between men.

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Famous quotes containing the words william shakespeare and/or shakespeare:

    Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares,
    And think perchance they’ll sell; if not,
    The lustre of the better yet to show
    Shall show the better.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Make me to see’t, or at the least so prove it
    That the probation bear no hinge nor loop
    To hang a doubt on.
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)