Love in shakespeare's sonnets = tình yêu trong thơ xônê của shakespeare

Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Vinh University
Foreign Languages department
=====***=====

Love in shakespeare’s sonnetss sonnets
(Tình yêu trong thơ xônê của
Shakespeare)

GRADUATION THESIS
FIELD: LITERATURE

Student
Class
Supervisor

Phạm Thị Hà
Trần Ngäc Tëng (M.A)

:
: 45 E2 - English
:

Vinh, May 2009

Acknowledgements
For the completion of the study, I have been fortune to receive invaluable
contributions from my many people.

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
M.A Tran Ngoc Tuong for his absolutely indispensable assistance, excellent
suggestions, expert advice and detailed critical comments, without which the
study would not have been completed.
I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to Mrs. Le Thi Thuy Ha,
who taught me English literature and suggest for me about this study.
In addition, I am greatly in debted to all my lectures at the Department of
Foreign Languages- Vinh University for their endless enthusiasm and
undeniable useful lectures.
My warmest thanks are due to my family, my relatives, my friends and
classmates for all things they have done for me.
Finally, I am all too aware that despite all the advice and assistance, I feel
that the project is far from perfect; it is, therefore, my sole responsibility for
any inadequacies and short comings that the thesis may be considered to have.
Vinh, May 2009
Pham Thi Ha

Table of contents
page
Acknowledgements.........................................................................i
Table of contents.............................................................................ii
Part A: Introduction.......................................................................1
1. Rationale for choosing the study................................................................1
2. Aims of the study........................................................................................2
3. Scope of the study.......................................................................................2
4. Methods of the study...................................................................................2

5. Design of the study.....................................................................................2
Part B: Investigation.......................................................................3
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background...................................3
1.1. England in the Renaissance.....................................................................3
1.1.1. What is the Renaissance?..................................................................3

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
1.1.2. What is meant by “Renaissance”?........................................................3
1.1.2.1. Renaissance: The revival of interest in Greek and Roman literature.3
1.1.2.2. Renaissance: The discovery of the world and human beings............4
1.1.2.3. Renaissance: The awakening of man’s mind, capacity, individual
spirit and secularism.......................................................................................5
1.1.3. Renaissance in English society and literature.......................................5
1.2. William Shakespeare’s life and career.....................................................6
1.2.1. His life..................................................................................................6
1.2.2. His career..............................................................................................7
Chapter 2: An introduction to Shakespeare’s Sonnetss Sonnets
and his homosexuality..................................................................11
2.1. What is a sonnet?.....................................................................................11
2.2. Types of sonnet........................................................................................11
2.2.1. The Spencerian Sonnet..........................................................................11
2.2.2. The Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet........................................................11
2.2.3. The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet................................................12
2.3. Shakespeare’s sonnets..............................................................................13
2.3.1. Background of Shakespeare’s sonnets..................................................12

2.3.2. The subject matter of Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence..........................14
2.4. Shakespeare’s homosexuality..................................................................15
2.4.1. Homosexuality in literature..................................................................15
2.4.2. Homosexuality in Western literature....................................................16
2.4.3. Homosexuality in Shakespeare’s works................................................18
Chapter 3: Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnetss sonnets.........................21
3.1. Triangle love............................................................................................21
3.1.1. Homosexual love between the poet and a Fair Lord.............................25
3.1.2. Heterosexual lust..................................................................................30
3.1.2.1. Love between the poet and a Dark Lady............................................30
3.1.2.2. Love between a Fair Lord and a Dark Lady......................................35
3.2. Homosexual love vs. Heterosexual lust...................................................37
3.3. Summary..................................................................................................40
Part c: Conclusion............................................................................41
1. Recapitulation.............................................................................................41
2. Suggestion for further study........................................................................42
References.............................................................................................43

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Appendix....................................................................................................

Part A: Introduction
1. Rationale for choosing the study
Literature, as well as music, is a vital part of our daily life. It is true to
say that “Literature is the voice of our hearts”. It makes the life more beautiful

and interesting. Writers use language to write in poem, story to express their
motion. Whatever ways “Literature is the window of the soul”.
When I was a pupil, I was really interested in literature because my
mother was also the teacher of literature. And I indeed liked poems written
about love. There is a famous saying that “We are all born for love, it is the
principle of existence and its only end”. Love is the basic of happiness and
social developments. It makes people’s life more meaningful, more cheerful
and enjoyable. And in literature, love is one of the most popular themes.
Now, As a student of Foreign Languages Department, I have opportunity
to study more about foreign literature, especially English literature. I knew
and learnt about William Shakespeare- the most influential writer in all of
English literature. Before, I only knew him through his well-known tragedy
like “Romeo and Juliet”- a tragic love story. Human beings have admired and
kept in their hearts the famous love affair of Romeo and Juliet. And all his
other comedies and tragedies expose the desire of a world full of love, and
love has been the only end to cure people from all kinds of sorrow and
unhappiness.
I surprise at the bulk of Shakespeare’s sonnets including 154 sonnets. A
series of this is the same theme. That is Love. And this is the reason why I
choose “Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets” as the theme for my graduation
paper.
2. Aims of the study
For the reasons mentioned above, the study has been done in order to:
- To understand more about England as well as English literature in
Renaissance Age.
- To study William Shakespeare’s life and works, especially his love
sonnets.

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
- To help teachers and students have more detailed information about
William Shakespeare and his love sonnets if they are interested in.
3. Scope of the study
- Studying the Renaissance, England in the Renaissance.
- Studying Shakespeare’s life and works.
- Studying only theme of love in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
- Studying and analyzing some sonnets that are sonnet 18, 20, 42, 116,
127, 130, 133 and 144.
4. Methods of the study
In order to carry out this study, due to the characteristics of the study, I
have to base on some main methods:
- Using analysis method.
- Loading documents from internet to study.
- Using collective method: collecting the materials in the course of
English literature that concern the study.
- Studying documents dealing with the theme.
- Making the help of my supervisor- M.A Tran Ngoc Tuong.
5. Design of the study
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
Chapter 2: An introduction to Shakespeare’s Sonnets and his
homosexuality
Chapter 3: Love in Shakespeare’s sonnet
Conclusion
References
Appendix

Part B: Investigation
Chapter 1
Theoretical Background
1.1. England in the Renaissance
1.1.1. What is the “Renaissance”?
The Renaissance was the transitional period from the Middle Ages to the
Modern contemporary times.
The Renaissance began in the 14th century in Italy and then spread to
other countries in Western Europe, but became the most prosperous and
important European country such as England, during the late 15th, 16th and 17th
century.
There was an attempt at creating a new culture, which would be from the
limitations of the feudal ideology of medieval times. The epoch was

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
characterized by a thirst for knowledge and discoveries, by a powerful
development of individuality. Frederick Engel regarded the Renaissance as
the greatest progressive turning point that mankind had so far experienced, a
time which called for giants and produced giants in power of thought passion
and character, in universality.
1.1.2. What is meant by “Renaissance”?
According to Nguyen Chi Trung, (1998), the term “Renaissance”,
meaning literally “rebirth” in French, was first used by Jules Michelle, a
French historian (1780-1874). First of all, “Renaissance” means not only the
revival of interest in Greek and Roman literature but also the discovery of the

world and human beings. More than that, “Renaissance” implies the
awakening of man’s mind, capacity, individual spirit and secularism.
1.1.2.1. Renaissance: the revival of interest in Greek and Roman
literature
According to Nguyen Chi Trung, (1998), in the Middle Ages, there were
less people read and studied Greek and Roman literatures, because scholars
were written by hand on parch made of animal skins. So, they could hardly
one read and study. However, thanks to Petrarch’s and Boccacio’s enthusiasm
in propagating the spirit of humanism in Greek and Roman literatures, and
thanks to the invention of the printing machine, the number of readers of
ancient writers increased greatly and the reading and studying Greek and
Roman literatures became an interest. In this period, the spirit of humanism
became assimilated with the studying of those literatures. And they could
study manuscript of the old Roman easily.
1.1.2.2. Renaissance: The discovery of the world and human beings
In the Middle Ages, the majority of the people were kept under
ignorance. The Church did not want men to know his capacity. Man was
taught that they were created by God. In the Renaissance, however, men
greatly discovered for geographical and scientific.
In geographical field, Christopher Columbus discovered America;
Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco da Gama discovered the Philippines; Magellan
travelled around the world and discovered serveral lands and islands. These
great geographical discoveries opened new horizons and bright prospects for
European people: they longed to discover other continents and people.
In scientific field, Newton discovered “Law of Gravity”. And Galileo and
Compenious discovered the stars and the stellar system, etc. These scientific

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
discoveries affected to men’s awareness about their position and effect in
society. It proved that men could do everything and men owned their life, not
God. (Nguyen Chi Trung, (1998), p.21)
Nguyen Chi Trung (1998) also states that the human beings in the Middle
Ages completely lost their position and values. The ideas and thinking of the
Church taught them that “God” was center and the creator of everything. God
has a life after death in the heaven and the Church of Rome also taught them
that men were symbols of evils and sins, that they were slaver in this
temporary world. They lived and waited for their emancipation from their
earthly hopeless life. They lived and prepared themselves for a futures life in
paradise.
In the Renaissance, on the contrary, men were reborn. They had the right
to live and to do everything what they wanted. They felt more optimistic with
present life. Now, life was more beautiful and interesting for them. They lived
meaningfully and better.
1.1.2.3. Renaissance: The awakening of man’s mind, capacity, individual
spirit and secularism
According to Nguyen Chi Trung (1998), Medieveal men depended on the
“God” and despised materialistic and sexual. But Renaissance men were quite
different. Discoveries of new lands, inventions, a more comfortable life, new
economic political and social life created new will and eagerness in them.
Spiritually, they began to against the strict, cramped and austere pattern of life
in the Middle Ages.
Throughout discoveries of ancient achievement and real life, men were
astonished what they had been learned in the church Rome were not right, and
that men could do everything what they wanted to improve and to perfect their
life in the Renaissance. Renaissance men were no more subordinated to God.

For them, their life and happiness was here, on earth and it depended on their
own strength and abilities to achieve it.
1.1.3. Renaissance in the English society and literature
Although England experienced to Renaissance later in comparison with
other European countries, it quickly reached the greatness and glory and was
considered as the peak of the renaissance culture.
During the 15th- 17th centuries, England witnessed a lot of growths and
changes. The development of capitalism resulted in a new economy and

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means of livelihood. England now changed from a Roman Catholic country to
a protestant country. The development of a new social order presented great
opportunities for man’s creativity. In a word, England in the Renaissance
grew prosperous and powerful and deserved to be called “Merry England”.
However, there were internal contradictions, disilutions and sadness in
the society. In all, England was then standing:
“Between two worlds: one dead
The others powerless to be born”
This was reflected frequently in literary works at that time. The
Renaissance was the most ebullient period in English literature that marked
the appearances and the growths of different trends, especially, the flouristing
of drama. Among the famous play wrights, William Shakespeare was the most
outstanding.
1.2. William Shakespeare’s life and career
1.2.1. His life

From three sources, we know Shakespeare’s life: the church and legal
records, the folk traditions, and the comments of his contemporaries.
Shakespeare was born on the 23rd of April, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon,
Warwicksire.
He got education in a local grammar school for a few years. There he
picked up the “small Latin and less Greek”. When Shakespeare was about
fourteen years old, he left school and became a country schoolmaster to help
support his family.
In 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was eight years older
than her husband.
A few years later, Shakespeare went to London, where he first did some
odd jobs. It was said that he kept horses for the audience outside the play
houses. Then by 1592, he became an actor and a writer.
In 1593-1954, Shakespeare published his two narrative poems, Venus
and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.
In 1612, he retired from the stage and return to his hometown, where he
bought a considerable estate and lived until his death on April 23 rd, 1616, at
the age of 52.
1.2.2. His career

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During the twenty-two years of his literary career, he wrote 37 plays,
154 sonnets and two long poems. Shakespeare’s literary career may be divided
into four major phrases which represent respectively his early, mature,
flouring, and late periods.

1.2.2.1. The first period (1590- 1594)
It is the period of his apprenticeship in play-writing. His work in this
period relies not so much on character as on fine or witty speech and situation
and bears the marks of youth, but of youth which astonishing versatility and
wonderful talent. The comedies are chiefly concerned with the affair of youth
and full of romantic sentiment. In historical plays, the dramatist tried to
handle political themes and given historical lessons.(Nguyen Xuan Thom
(1997). Besides, Shakespeare’s early plays show an extraordinary facility in
expression and a felicity in the choice of phrases and epithetic. And blank
verse developed by him into a happy vehicle to express all kinds of thought
and emotion freely.
* Historical play:
• Henry VI, part 1, 2, 3 (1590-1591)
• Richard III (1592)
* Comedy:
• The Comedy of Errors (1592)
• The Taming of the Shrew (1593)
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594)
• Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594)
* Tragedy:
• Titus Andronicus (1593)
• Romeo and Juliet (1594)
* Narrative poems:
• Venus and Adonis (1593)
• The Rape of Lucrece (1594)
1.2.2.2. The second period (1595-1600)
It is a period of “great comedies” and mature historical plays. The
dramatist made an advance in every way and the general spirit is optimism. In
the historical plays of this period, different phrases of English life are sown
before us. There is a great lift in characterization and sources the dramatist

employed in this period are many and diversified. As a whole, this period is

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Shakespeare’s sweet and joyful time, in which he succeeds in portraying a
magnificent panorama of the manifold pursuits of people in real life.
* Six Comedies:
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
• The Merchant of Venice(1596)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
• The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598)
• As You Like It (1599)
• Twelfth Night (1600)
* Five historical plays:
• Richard II (1595)
• King John (1596)
• Henry IV, part 1 (1597)
. Henry IV, part 2 (1597)
. Henry V (1598)
* A Roman tragedy:
• Julius Caesar (1599)
* 154 sonnets
1.2.2.3. The third period (1601-1607)
It is a period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”. In the plays of
this period, the tragic note is aggravated. The sunshine and laughter of the
second period has turned into clouds and storms. Even the comedies written in

this period are known as “dark” because they give somber picture of the
world. The cause of such a change sought from Shakespeare’s change of
moods as influenced by the social upheavals as the turn of the century. There
were plots and rising against Elizabeth. In 1604, the Earl of Southampton,
Shakespeare’s patron, was arrested by James I.
* Five tragedies:
• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1601)
• Othello (1604)
• King Lear (1605)
• Macbeth (1605)
• Timon of Athens (1607)
* Three Comedies:
• Troilus and Cressida (1602)

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• All’s Well That Ends Well (1603)
• Measure for Measure (1604)
* Two Roman Tragedies:
• Anthony and Cleopatra (1606)
• Coriolanus (1607)
1.2.2.3. The fourth period (1608-1612)
It is the period of romantic drama. With this period we turn from the
storm, the gloom, and the whirlwind of the third period to “a great
peacefulness of light”, and a harmony of earth and heaven.
* Four romantic Comedies:

• Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608)
• Cymbeline (1609)
• The Winter’s Tale (1610)
• The Tempest (1611)
* A Historical play:
• Henry VIII (1612)
In summary, Renaissance marks the translation from the medieval to the
modern world. If first started in Italy in the 14 th century and gradually spread
all over Europe. The word “Renaissance” means rebirth or revival, it is a
thirsting curiosity for the classical literature. People learn to admire the Greek
and Latin works as models of literary from. It is the keen interest in the
activities of humanity. Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance. William
Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the great English playwright and poet not only
of England but also of the world.

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Chapter 2
An introduction to Shakespeare’s sonnetss Sonnets
and his homosexuality
2.1. What is a sonnet?
According to Nguyen Chi Trung (1998), the sonnet originated in Sicily at
the Court of King Frederick I (1123-1190) - a Holy Roman emperor in the 15 th
century. His Chancellor Piteo della Vigna, is generally created with the
invention of the sonnet, evolving from Sicilian folk songs.

According to Thai Ba Tan (1995), the sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen
lines, following one or another of several set rhyme- scheme. The English
word “Sonnet” derives from the Italian word “sonetto”, meaning “little song”.
Some early sonnets were set to music, with accompaniment provided by a
lute.
2.2. Types of sonnet
Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications, but to all
essential purposes, there are three main types of sonnets: the Spencerian, the
Italian (Petrarchan) and the English (Shakespearian) Sonnet.
2.2.1. Spencerian Sonnet
Edmund Spencer (1552-1599) popularized the style of sonnet with the
rhyme scheme: abab, bcbc, cdcd,ee, using three quatrains and a couplet but
employing liking rhymes between the quatrains
2.2.2. The Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet
The Italian Petrarch (1304-1374), a Roman Catholic priest, popularized
this form sonnet in Italy in the fourteen century more than 200 years before
English poet even knew about them.
The Petrarchan Sonnet is divided in two main parts, called the octave and
the sestet. The octave is eight-line stanza or two quatrains, and typically
follows a rhyme scheme of abba abba or abba cddc. The sestet remains sixline stanza or two tercets and typically follows a rhyme scheme of cde, cde
(or cdc, cdc or cde dce).
2.2.3. The English (Shakespearian) Sonnet

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The English sonnet was introduced into England in the early 16th century by

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503- 1542) and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547).
They translated Italian sonnets into English and wrote sonnets of their own.
The form is often named after Shakespeare, not because he was the first
to write in this form but because he became its most famous practitioner.
The form consists of three quatrains (four-line stanza) and a final couplet
(two lines). The formula for a Shakespearean sonnet is sometimes expressed
as 4 + 4 + 4 + 2. Each quatrain develops a different image to express the
theme and resolves the whole in the final couplet.
The rhyme- scheme in a Shakespearian sonnet is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
This means that in each of the first three quatrains, the first and third lines
rhyme with each other, as do the second and fourth lines. In the final couplet,
the two lines rhyme with each other.
Each line of a sonnet is in iambic pentameter, a unit of rhythm consisting
of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in dah- DUM,
dah- DUM dah- DUM dah- DUM dah- DUM. The following line from Romeo
and Juliet demonstrates the use of iambs, the stressed syllables are
underlined:
“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks”.
All of Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets were in this form except for the poems
he wrote earlier in life. The sonnet is a difficult art form for the poet because
of the restrictions on length and meter. William Shakespeare wrote themes
such as love, beauty, politic and mortality in his sonnets and love is
considered as the most common theme of sonnets.
2.3. Shakespeare’s sonnets
2.3.1. Background of Shakespearean Sonnets.
The sequence of 154 sonnets by English poet and playwright- William
Shakespeare. These sonnets were first published on May 20 th, 1609 by
Thomas Thorpe, a publisher having less than a professional reputation, with
the title “Shake- Speares Sonnet. Never Before Imprinted”. It contains 2155
lines and 1055 rhymes. At that time, Shakespeare became famous and was the

important member of the big theatres in London.
We do not know exactly when Shakespeare composed his sonnets, we
only know Sonnet 138 and 144 were published in 1599 in a poetry collection

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entitled “The Passionate Pilgrim”. However, based on characteristic contents
and art of the works, in comparison with all his works and background of
society, almost researchers said that Shakespeare wrote them over a period of
several years, beginning perhaps, in 1592 or 1593 and probably between 1592
and 1597 at a time when the sonnet sequence developed strongly in English
Renaissance.
The English sonnet sequence reached the height of its popularity in the
1590s, some English poets as Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spender created their
own sonnet collections. From 1598 up to, Sonnet decreased gradually, and
there are no famous works. It is not until 1609 that Shakespeare’s sonnets
were published as told above.
The precise order of the poems in Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence has
occasioned some scholarly dispute, although there is, in general, widespread
agreement with a more or less standard order. Conventionally the sonnets fall
in three clear groupings: Sonnets 1-126 are addressed to or concern a young
man; Sonnet 127 -152 are addressed to or concern a dark lady (dark in the
sense of hair, her facial features, and her character), and Sonnet 153-154 are
fairly adaptation of two classical reek poems.
Attributing Sonnets 1-126 to a young man and Sonnets 127-152 to a dark
lady is somewhat problematical, since in many of the gender of the person

addressed is not at all clear (although sometimes it is). We have no clear
mandate to interpret poems invoking “my love” as referring necessarily to a
male or to a female, since the term is used to refer to both sexes equally.
2.3.2. The Subject Matter of the Shakespeare’s Sonnet Sequence
One can study Shakespeare’s sonnets as independent poems or, in some
cases, as short sequence of a few poems (since many are linked together by
subject matter), or as an entire sonnet sequence, trying to make of the total
collection some form of coherent or semi-coherent narrative. We have no
particular need or right to construct such a narrative, but the temptation to do
so is almost irresistible.
Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence begins with a series of poems urging the
young man to whom they are addressed to get married, so that he will leave
the world a copy of his beauty, which will therefore not suffer the ravages of
times. The young man is clearly single, very accomplished, good looking, and
of noble birth. In Sonnet 18, the speaker of the poem claims that the young

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man will achieve immortality through these sonnets quickly becomes much
more personal as the speaker explores is love for the young man and at the
young man’s unfaithfulness. In at least one poem (Sonnet 20) there seems to
be a very explicit homosexual basis to the relationship between the speakerpoet and the young man. Elsewhere, there is a suggestion that the young man
is having an affair with a woman also loved by the speaker-poet (an issue
which Sonnet 42 raises and which is later explored in Sonnet 142, a poem
which suggests that the young man and the dark lady are lovers).
The dark lady sequence (which starts with Sonnet 127) also offers

tantalizing narrative suggestions. She is conventionally referred to as the Dark
Lady although she is rarely called dark (the adjective “black” is much more
commonly applied to her), and we have no evidence that she was a noble (as
the term lady might suggest). The speaker establishes that both he and the
lady are no longer young, and he knows his love for this lady is wrong (sinful)
but he can not escape it. This puts him in a powerful moral anguish (as in
Sonnet 144). She is unfaithful to him, and he is unfaithful to her, and both are
committing adultery with others and with each other (including, it seems, the
young man). And yet at times his expressions of love are unequivocally
beautiful and confident (Sonnet 116).
What is particularly remarkable about the sequence of poems addressed
to or concerning the young man and a dark lady is the extraordinary range of
emotions explored, everything from confident declarations of total love, to
gloom at separation, joy at reunion, bitter disappointment at mutual infidelity,
and savage despair at being locked into behaviour which will damn him to
hell.
2.4. Shakespeare’s homosexuality
2.4.1. Homosexuality in literature
Society has been developping with progressive ideas, it really matter that
a good work of art contains homosexual ideas by outstanding gay writers and
artists and musicians. People can say that it really does not matter whether or
not some great artist or hero was homosexual they have this in mind and
habits in their personal lives. In its origins, homosexual love was an integral
part of the pastoral tradition.
We can find the tinge of homoerotic idea in many of the works of art and
literature and as such it is evident in the every first vernacular mystery play.In

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II, the king Edward had to go through a
downfall due to his homosexual leanings as e was so fond of his male counter
part and was so much in love with him that he never gave any heed to anyone.
((1): source:http:nfs.sparnotes.com/History of Homosexuality.html)
The literary works are well written that whether it deals with the notion
of the homosexual ideas can be said to be negligible. These are such beautiful
works of art that contain such vivid descriptions of the homosexualism which
is all together an innovative step by itself. Love was found between two
persons belonging to the same sex is so vividly found in literature that is
worth mentioning. The love and sex found in the gays are distinctly bloomed
in the writings of great literary writers.
2.4.2. Homosexuality in Western literature
Homosexual theme is forbidden under our social structure of
heterosexual standard. Literature works, being criticized and censored by their
readers, often have to hide the homosexual descriptions under the mask of the
“norm” so that they can be published or received by the public. In this
accommodation for the expectation of the audience, writers do not have the
true freedom in fully expressing themselves especially when they may be
accused of “abnormal” sexual orientation. However, when is the idea that
homosexual is “sinister” formed? Why is homosexuality treated with hostility
in our society? The idea can be reach as far back to the stories of Greek
mythology. We can obviously see in the stories that the intimate relationships
between male characters are described. One example is the story of Achilles
and Patroclus. Achilles “longed for Patroclus’ strength and his manhood”.
The love between Achilles and Patroclus is not only a “spiritual comrades”
but also the “masculine love”, which was degenerated to “perversion”. Homer
was fully aware that homosexual love is illegal. This negative concept is

entirely the result of unjustified result that has been internalized by the
constant fear of “homophobia” society. The idea can be compared to the
reason why early women writers used pseudonym to hide their true identities.
((2):source:http:nfs.sparnotes.com/History of Homosexuality.html).
Therefore, on the basis of such a thought, the literary theme of
“complete” heterosexual love and “incomplete” homosexual love have been
created and judged. As a result, before twentieth century when the

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homosexual literary works are blatantly published, some of the western
cannons were oppressed, and suppressed.
Sir Francis Bacon, the father of modern science, also showed great
inclination for homosexuality. In Bacon’s Essay, Bacon reflects what he
thinks personality about men, manners, and morals. Bacon preferred
masculine friendship to heterosexual love, for “although nuptial love maketh
mankind, friendly love perfecteth it” (Of Love). His essay on heterosexual love
is a critic of “weak passion”, which makes one impossible to love and to wise
(Of Love). Bacon was one of the first Englishmen to write an essay on the
nature of beauty, and is models are not women, but “August Caesar, Titus
Vespasianus, Philip Le Bel of france, Edward the Fourth of England … the the
most beautiful men of their times” (Of Beauty).
Francis Bacon is the first person in England language to use the phrase
“masculine love”. He praises the superiority of homosexuality over the
“lawful” heterosexuality. For him, morality is the matter of personal integrity
not a matter of following socially approved conventions.

After mentioning some of writings about homosexuality in English
literature. We would like to point out some writers who also contained
homosexual elements in American literature with example of their works.
Walt Whitman, one of the greatest poets in American literature, was a
bohemian. He had some scandals and a love affair with a man one of whose
initials is “M”. Whitman’s love was not reciprocated by M. As a result, he
committed suicide. “I dare not to tell it in words, not even in these songs”Earth! My Likeness! Whitman (Leaves of Grass). From the words above, it
reveals that Whitman did not want to declare is homosexuality for avoiding
the differences from common standard.
2.4.3. Homosexuality in Shakespeare’s works
The content of Shakespeare’s sonnets as raised the question of whether
he may have been homosexuality or bisexual. This question has caused
controversy given Shakespeare’s iconic status.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets are the principal reason for suggesting that he may
have been homosexual. The poems were initially published, perhaps without
his approval in 1609. One hundred of twenty-six of them are love poems
addressed to a young man (known as the “Fair Lord”), and twenty-six to a
married woman (known as the “Dark Lady”). This edition did not seem to

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
have sold well, and may have been suppressed or perhaps simply disliked by
its readership.
There are numerous passages in the sonnets that can be read as
homosexual or bisexual. During Sonnet 13 Shakespeare calls the young man
“dear my love” and in Sonnet 18 he says “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s

day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate”, followed by Sonnet 20 in
which he says that the man is his “master-mistress”. And are the Sonnets
autobiographical or mere fiction?
The controversy was first articulated in 1780 when George Steevens,
upon reading Sonnet 20 where Shakespeare describes his young man male
friend as his “master-mistress” remarked, “It is impossible to read this
fulsome panegyrick, addressed to a male object, without an equal mixture of
disgust and indignation”. Critics in continental Europe added more to the
debate. In 1834, a French reviewer saying “He instead of she?... Can I be
mistaken? Can these sonnets be addressed to a man? Shakespeare! Great
Shakespeare?”
Those who reject the notion of Shakespeare’s bisexuality usually explain
these sonnets referring to intense friendship, not sexual love. Douglas Bush in
the preface to his 1961 Pelican edition writes: “Since modern readers are
unused to such ardor in masculine friendship and are likely to leap at the
notion of homosexuality… thewe may remember that such an ideal, often exalted
above the love of women could exist in real life, from Montaigne to Sir
Thomas Browne and was conspicuous in Renaissance literature”
However, not all scholars are convinced by this argument. C. S. Lewis
writes that the sonnets are “two lover-like for ordinary male friendship”. For
Shakespeare, his love for the young man gives him sleepless nights and causes
sharp anguish and fearful jealousy. There is considerable emphasis on the
young man’s beauty. In Sonnet 20, Shakespeare describes the fair lord as
feminine having “a woman’s face” or “master-mistress”, the beauty of the fair
lord is that of woman, yet he still a man. Therefore, some critics suggest that
Shakespeare ruled out sexual relations while openly saying that he was
sexually aroused by the youth.
Similar evidence, or at least fuel for controversy, exists within the plays.
In The Merchant of Venice, for example, the characters Bassanio and Antonio
have a close friendship which some have interpreted as a sexual relationship.

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Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Likewise, in Twelfth Night, there are comedic situations in which a woman
poses as a man. It provides the fact that in the London of Shakespeare’s time
had a homosexual culture included writers and actors, as well as theatre
patrons who paid their penis to see boy actors playing women’s parts.
Shakespeare scholar G.B. Harrison observes: “It was a common brief in
Shakespeare’s time that the love of a man for his friend, especially his sworn
brother, was stronger and nobler than the love of man for woman ”.. In fact,
Shakespeare’s plays contain many passages in which heterosexual/males
express non-sexual love for one another in solicitous and doting language. For
example, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, Arcite addresses his friend way:
“Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood”Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood ”., (Act I, Scene II, Line 1). In
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Rosencrants says to Hamlet, “Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood”My lord, you once
did love me”.. Hamlet replies, “Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood”So do I still… the”. (Act III, Scene II, Line 348).
It must be kept in mind that Shakespeare had openly engaged in
homosexual relations with other males, he risked prosecution under sodomy
laws of the time that could have resulted in the death penalty. However, in
Elizabethan times, as to day, an interest in one gender did not preclude an
interest in other, and the question of whether an Elizabethan was “gay” in a
modern sense is anachronistic, as the concept of homosexuality did not
emerge until the nineteenth century. One of Shakespeare’s greatest rolemodels, Christopher Marlowe, has also been claimed to have been
homosexual.

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Chapter 3
Love in Shakespeare’s sonnetss sonnets
Each sonnet is an independent work containing a problem and ways of
resolving it. All of 154 Sonnets are about an ideal frank emotional friendship
between the poet and a noble handsome young man who was uninterruptedly
praised by Shakespeare, and about a love affair between the poet and an
attraction charming Dark lady, who was one an unlimited source of his
happiness and unhappiness. Through these sonnets we also know that his old
friend and his Dark Lady did meet each other, did love each other, and by so
doing, both did betray him, both did bring him great sorrow and grief, though
he did his best to try an explanation for their wrong doings and forgive them.
The traditional “eternal triangle” (one person being the object of two
other person’s love), in this sequence, becomes a “love triangle” including the
poet-speaker, a Fair Youth and a Dark Lady.
3.1. Triangle love
The “Love Triangle” theme exists in many of Shakespeare’s sonnets
which encompass the narrator, a fair (male) youth and a “dark” woman.
Shakespeare’s eclectic catalog of sonnets deal with a variety of emotion,
ranging from anger and love to winter and summer.
The love triangle evident in Shakespeare sonnets is quite specific. It
refers to hate, jealous, anger and forgiveness. Sonnet 133 and sonnet 144 are
the evident to prove the “Love Triangle” in Shakespeare’s sonnets. Both
sonnets deal with the “Love Triangle” theme. Through a closing reading of the
two poems, one can infer that an affair was between the fair youth and the

dark woman, behind the narrator’s back. In the first and second quatrain of
sonnet 133:
“Dear Palamon, dearer in love than blood”Beshrew that heart makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me;
Is’t not enough to torture me alone,
But slave to slavery my sweetst friend must be?

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