After Shakespeare’s perishing, many accusations and assumptions have surfaced on the idea that Shakespeare was gay or bisexual and said scientists have found sightings of cocaine and cannabis around Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Scholars think Shakespeare left clues throughout his poems and plays about being bisexual. It is thought that the play “Merchant of Venice” revolved around a particular love triangle of a woman and two men; one younger and the other older. All his sonnets are dedicated to a Mr. W.H. which could be a secret lover considered to be a “fair youth.” In Sonnet 20 Shakespeare describes a male as his obsession and the “master-mistress of my passion” which could mean he was secretly in love with a man. In addition, …show more content…
Among the other substances positively identified in the study Dunphy 7 were nicotine, myristic acid and isopropyl myristate, cocaine, cinnamaldehyde, vanillin, quinolone and butyl quinone, borneol and other forms of camphor, pyrene, phenol, toluene and naphthalene.” Altogether, fingers can’t be pointed directly at Shakespeare but it can be inferred that all spices and drugs named above were available during Shakespeare’s lifetime but, it is still a mystery if Shakespeare used them to enhance his works. Shakespeare’s works have become very popular in modern society and arouses feelings of sadness and love. Marjorie Garber declared that Shakespeare plays a huge “part in our common culture.” Many people look to Shakespeare's works for knowledge and understanding of life itself. Marjorie Garber also stated “Indeed, it is one of the fascinating effects of Shakespeare's plays that they have almost always seemed to coincide with the times in which they are read, published, produced, and discussed.” Going off the statement made by Garber, Shakespeare's plays are so universal and broad that individuals all around the globe can relate certain aspects of their personal lives or events happening in society to his plays. A few
-Shakespeare is also responsible for a large number of quotes and sayings that are consistently brought up in stories and even everyday
Homosexuality and Homoeroticism in the Elizabethan Era and Shakespearean Theatre In light of recent human rights movements, homosexuality is a topic that has moved to the forefront of social justice movements. Men and women alike are attempting to have their voices heard and being accepted into the current culture. However, hundreds of years ago, this was not an acceptable movement. When looking at homosexuality and the homosexual, it is important to look at how Elizabethan society categorized the homosexual man and how it applied to the theatre. These labels blurred the line between nonsexual and sexual relationships between the men of the time.
Shakespeare's is one of the most read writers ever and his writing was so successful that not just one group of people liked it. He did this by relating to his audience using universal truths. . Human emotions are not something that change over time and they are also known as universal truths; love, hate, revenge, and envy are all examples of universal truths. This play was so successful that many other movies have copied the plot but changed the scenery. Over the past 400 years since this play was written the world has changed drastically, but the emotions and feelings in this play have withstood the test of time. This is why the movies, Romeo and Juliet (1996) and West Side Story (1961) were so
changing attitudes toward life and the other characters in the play, particularly the women; and his reflection on the
One of the functions of Shakespeare’s poetry is to communicate to the audience in an imaginative manner. Through his vivid language he is able to create, the setting, portray the character and the emotional atmosphere of the scene. The Elizabethan audience believed deeply in the supernatural and superstition. They hungered for it. The use of unnatural events had a significant topical interest for the Elizabethan audience.
William Shakespeare wrote plays that covered the breadth of human experience, which seem to have transcended the restraints of age because they contain universal themes. His body of his work is comprised of genres of plays, which varied from tragedies to comedies.
What makes two civilizations distinct? Is it the thousands of miles and years between them? The Roman Empire and the Aztec Civilization were separated by 1400 years and 6,000 miles, but this doesn’t mean that they’re completely different. Even though there are many obvious differences between these two ancient civilizations, their similarities pertaining to religion, agriculture, and military are remarkable.
The morals and values presented in his works speak to the audience, often offering a new perspective on the world in which they live. Students are affected by the powerful and complex characters and are rewarded with profound insights into human nature and behavior.I firmly believe that Shakespeare's works, like no other literature in the high school curriculum, challenge and invigorate the minds of students. Because of the complex characters, difficult vocabulary and style in which he writes, students must elevate their level of learning to grasp a clear understanding of his works. Shakespeare's plays hold intricate meanings and messages. His
Shakespeare's plays are full of references to what is now obscure- classical myth, falconry, astrology, or the theory of 'humors' that were thought to determine personality within so many of his characters (?S??Far?). Shakespeare wrote about themes and events we can relate to even now nearly 500 years later. 'He wrote about us-you and me, our friends, our families, the people we work with and play with and argue with and go to bed with, the characters we see on the evening news and elect to public office' often times comparisons are often scary (Seder iii). Shakespeare also liked to make fun of many of his characters. His plays show that he can be funny and has a humorous personality, often times even in his tragedies in which
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” (Garvey). Garvey’s allusion to a tree’s roots depicts the human experience and the importance of understanding our past. Everyone sees the tree (plays), but not necessarily the roots (the “background story”) that make these works classic. These influences define the works, affecting them in ways unseen to the human eye. The roots give the tree life. William Shakespeare utilizes numerous influences to make his plays unique. He employs many Elizabethan Era themes, characterization techniques, and culture in his writing. All of these impacted his life in the late 1500s and provided both underlying main points and details for his plays. It is
Shakespeare, a humanist and a man of crucial perspective, concentrates on moral, political, and philosophical questions of universal significance; he strives to change the world. Shakespeare brought new-fangled realism in drama and took it to great height with profundity. His dramas have the rich diversity of humanity with the help of hundreds living, believable characters showing multiplicity in individuality. Even after centuries, the characters can be identified with their aspirations, their strengths and their failings, and sympathise with their moral dilemmas. He was a true human with true human experiences bringing humanist approach. Janet Suzman: “Shakespeare was a humanist in everything he wrote.*1 Shakespeare’s plays and poetry reveal
One of literature’s most distinguished plays, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was written by the highly acclaimed William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was an individual of many talents; among those talents were poetry, acting, and playwriting. During his life, Shakespeare wrote a total of thirty-seven plays, one-hundred-seventy-four sonnets, and invented more than seventeen thousand of the words used in current English. A great number of those plays and sonnets have been translated in over eighty languages, some of which include Chinese, Uzbek, and Bengali. William Shakespeare’s works have been so widely used in the English language that he has become the second most quoted author in English. Because of Shakespeare’s great success, The Tragedy of
Finally becoming more accepted and commonplace around the world, homosexuality and heteronormativity in history and literature are still taboo topics. Without a blatant confession, people are wont to assume the heterosexuality of beloved authors and historical figures, ignoring the fact that any homosexuality in these figures had to have been done in secret to avoid punishment as severe as death. This bias towards heteronormativity can even distort obvious expressions of homosexual tendencies in authors even as prolific as Shakespeare. Shakespeare, who is suspected of lusting after another man named Henry Wriothesley, writes numerous poems dedicated to the golden young man in Sonnets. In “Sonnet 135,” Shakespeare writes a poem dedicated to
With every great story line comes a theme. William Shakespeare created an art of intertwining often unrecognizable themes within his plays. In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, one hidden theme is the idea of homosexuality. This theme might not have even been noticed until modern Shakespeare fans discovered them. According to Alan Bray’s book, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, “the modern image of ‘the homosexual’ cannot be applied to the early modern period, when homosexual behavior was viewed in terms of the sexual act and not an individual's broader identity.” (Columbia University Press). This difference between homosexuality as a “sexual act” and an
A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.