Shakesqueer

A push, a flush, and a refill: Professor Smith goes to the loo.

Or "The Lever and the Leavings: Indoor Plumbing and Ultimate Intimacy"

ROFL

Is it possible that the plays were written largely during the reign of homophobic King Elizabeth I while the sonnets may have been authored during the reign of Queen James I who definitely had a thing for the handsome men about the court? W.S. did rely on royal patronage and wrote to please the court. Homo-erotic sonnets would definitely have pleased James I, but would NOT have pleased Elizabeth I at all.

Is it possible that the sonnets weren’t even written by Shakespeare?

I'm not a literature expert but I have heard that questions like that can be resolved by computer analysis of comparative word frequencies. Probably someone would have noticed if the plays and sonnets had a different author.

NOw that wasn’t nice. I am a Shakespear fan. My point is it has no affect on what effect the literature brings to individuals. At least it should not.

You're right. After I posted I realized that your comment could be taken a different way and my comment was mean. I agree that this type of historical footnote should have no influence on the appreciation of Shakespeare. Just re-reading the line "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" one can see this man's genius and it doesn't really matter whom he was addressing.

On the other hand it should not be necessary to lie about the past and make it fit some ideal that does not accord with the known facts.

I don't even know that much about literature. I was a math major. But I knew I was right about this. Shakespeare lived so long ago that most of the facts of his life are a mystery. But his writing is there for all to see. One thing that is clear from this thread is that a lot of people who make dogmatic statements about Shakespeare's writing know even less about it than me.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.