Shakespeares Homosexual Tendencies In Romeo and Juliet Play

The idea that Shakespeare was a homosexual has surfaced in recent years. This idea can be supported by studying Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and one of the main characters, Romeo Montague. Romeo’s life closely mirrors that of Shakespeare’s. The males’ role in the society and plays of the time may also be a key to this conspiracy. An extensive amount of Shakespeare’s sonnets were written as love poems to a man. There is also a hidden message in Shakespeare’s Hamlet that suggests Shakespeare homosexual tendencies.

Shakespeare was a mysterious person. Spending most of his time in the theatre or writing, he is one of the most monumentally known influences in the English language and mankind. He was often described as the greatest businessman and dramatist of his time. With 37 plays, 375 poems, and over four billion copies sold, Shakespeare could easily be the best writer the world has ever witnessed. Various music lyrics and common day sayings around our society today wouldn’t have been a thing without the help of Shakespeare.

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Shakespeare married the young Anne Hathaway at the age of 18 and she later birthed two healthy children and one other who died in the first few years of life. Not much is known about the two and their marriage as it seems it was hidden in secrecy. Shakespeare attended Stratford Grammar School where he learned more about his Catholic religion; after already being baptized at the age of three days old. Shakespeare became an avid follower in religion as he has shown most of this in his writing.

The life of Shakespeare might remain in secrecy but his writing and play-making might be the path to his history.

Shakespeare created his character, Romeo Montague, from Romeo and Juliet based on similar characteristics from his own life. Shakespeare and Romeo's actions mirror one another in many ways. The similarities with their love life can be supported by the idea that Juliet (who was played by a male in the theater) was actually part of Shakespeare's real- life secret homosexual affair.

This can be demonstrated by the secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet, and the banishment of Shakespeare if this secret affair had gotten out. Shakespeare's real- life experience is almost exactly the same as the banishment of Romeo. Shakespeare was portrayed by Romeo in his own play of Romeo and Juliet, while Juliet was actually the cover up for his secret affair. This is shown by the secretive relationship between the two and the so- called banishment of Romeo which coincidentally, would have most likely happened if Shakespeare ever came out to the public as gay

The males’ role in the society and plays of the time may be the key to this conspiracy. Males typically played every role in the play. Women in this time were not allowed in the theatre and were thought to only take care of the kids and cook the food. The men preformed every task possible to fit their role. This includes kissing and sexual interaction between the two men. With Shakespeare being around this for much of his life it had to take a toll on his mind or change his feelings towards men the more he experienced it.

Many point out Shakespeare’s plays were all originally performed by men, men kissed men on stage, and several of them were cross-dressing as women, so he must be gay or at least bisexual.

However, many fail to say the reason: women were not allowed on stage in the 16th and 17th century. But that doesn’t change the fact Shakespeare’s canon contains a LOT of cross-dressing. Many actresses have complained about the lack of decent roles in Shakespeare, but it is a deluge compared to his contemporaries. In Twelfth Night, it plays with this and the idea of homosexuality very clearly. Shipwrecked Viola, dressed as a man called Cesario, enters the service of Duke Orsino and begins to fall in love with him. Orsino, in turn, is in love with wealthy countess Olivia. Olivia is in love with Cesario, but does not realize she is in love with a woman dressed as a man.

What can we know about Shakespeare’s relationship to Anne Hathaway, an older woman, who he married and had three children with? Well, according to what has been discovered, very little. The two married when Shakespeare was 18, she was 26 and already pregnant with their first child Susanna. Most famously, when he died, Shakespeare gave her only one thing – the second-best bed. This is viewed by many as a slight and a claim of how he had come to dislike her, viewing the marriage as a trap away from his free life in London.

The following article above shows that Shakespeare was tired of his marriage and clearly didn’t love his wife. This provides evidence to support my claim that Shakespeare's secret affair was with a man and that he himself is the Romeo he had wrote about for many years. Other evidence shows that in 'Hamlet' Hamlet spells out I am a homosexual throughout the sonnet.

Shakespeare did love his wife as it seemed as he had three kids with her and was an avid religious follower, but the writing of “ I am a homosexual' steers my mind in a different direction. Shakespeare continued to neglect his wife and kids as he put them second to only his work. The same work that gave him the pleasure and secret affair is also the same type of work that left him dying early as she lived on seven years without him.

In conclusion, Shakespeare modeled his character Romeo after himself as both of them held their secret affairs in secrecy. The society Shakespeare grew up around frowned upon gay people which would have led to the banishment of Shakespeare if this had been proven true. The secret affair/conspiracy of Shakespeare may forever remain in secret as history shows no confirmation of this foreign subject.