Daffodil International University
Faculty of Humanities and Social Science => English => Topic started by: Shampa Iftakhar on October 07, 2013, 04:21:44 PM
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Last class, a student asked me whether Shakespeare supported Lesbian or not. In the play As You Like It, we see that two cousins are very intimate and then Phoebe falls in love with Ganymede, who is really Rosalind in disguise. I find Shakespeare's attitude bit ambiguous regarding this issue.Now he is criticized for hidden lesbians. You can go through the link to know more:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/sep/02/books.medicalscience
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Well, from a traditional perspective, I don't think there is any homosexual agenda is hidden here, it could be just another prank between two cousins and what you need to notice is, Phoebe falls in love with the "disguise"( disguise of a man) , not with the "person". But if you want to put the text in a larger structure considering all the biographical elements of Shakespeare and also mix a bit of queer theory, well!! then the answer is yes! Arguably Shakespeare was a homosexual who dedicated 126 sonnets to a young man describing his physical beauty; to be specific and only 25 sonnets to a dark lady expressing direct or indirect hatred. And as you know literature goes by reading between the lines, so I think, putting two sisters in his own shoes and attempting a sex-role reversal is not much irrelevant for Shakespeare. So in that sense you can say that he supported lesbian sexuality.
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So Rafi..both sides are there. Shakespeare is mysterious, isn't he?
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Sexuality or homosexuality, gay or lesbian - they existed in the antiquity as they exist in the present. We can now 'talk' about queer theory and these are included in the syllabus of theory courses. But during Shakespearean days, things went hush hush. So may be the master really wanted to give expression through implicit incidents. You never know!
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Tahsina Apa:
But during Shakespearean days, things went hush hush..... yepp!!! Things go hush hush even today regarding these issues only when you are teaching theory in the class. But the scenario is totally different in some countries where marriage between gay and lesbian gets approved. Things have changed a lot.