Shakespeare's writing has endured for over four hundred years. His plays are famous, he invented words that we use today (amazement, dishearten, and the phrase "break the ice", etc.), and his sonnets are hauntingly beautiful. He tackled a wide range of emotions and concerns including love, beauty, and death. However, just as Shakespeare gave us lines of lyrical loveliness - 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' - he also wasn't above getting a little lowbrow. He was quite happy to consider the theme of romantic love from what was in his breeches as he was what was in his heart.
What we know of Shakespeare comes from official documents and records of the time, there being no personal papers that have survived. This has led to much speculation about the man himself - his sexuality, his lifestyle, his education, etc. Record keeping and the like was more rare than it is today. And, even though his work as writer and actor garnered attention, he didn't have the status in his own time that he has today. Besides, personal lives were not as scrutinised and written about as they are today.
We know that he was baptised on 26 April 1564, though we don't know exactly what day he was born. We know that he married at eighteen to Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six, and that that marriage was granted a special license because Anne was already pregnant (six months after the wedding their first child, Susanna, was born. We know that he was an actor on the stage, a playwright, and a poet. Other than that, for sure, we know of various legal proceedings and purchases because of documentation and records.
Love is too young to know what conscience is;
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove:
- from Sonnet 151, William Shakespeare
Sonnet 151 is from a series of sonnets known as the Dark Lady sonnets, this because the woman to whom the sonnets are addressed is described as having dark hair and skin by Shakespeare. She is someone that the narrator of the verses has a sexual relationship with. In the opening lines, above, of Sonnet 151, Shakespeare is asking that the woman he is addressing does not judge him harshly for any wrongs that he has done, for she is also guilty of the same wrongs - namely that they have both been unfaithful.
The speaker of this sonnet makes it quite clear that this is a very sexual relationship, theirs being a bond, if not wholly based in lust, then one very much influenced by their physical desires. Shakespeare even goes on to give the poem over to the point of view of the speaker's body and genitals entirely. It becomes clear that the poem is most certainly not from the heart or mind.
For, thou betraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body's treason;
My soul doth tell my body that he may
Triumph in love; flesh stays no farther reason,
- from Sonnet 151, William Shakespeare
In these lines, you can trade the word "body" for the word "penis" instead, because that is essentially what our speaker is thinking with here. As I said, the narrative is practically told the point of the view of the "body" here. In these lines, the speaker tells us that, having given in to these feelings, he is now but a slave to this woman he desires.
But rising at thy name doth point out thee
As his triumphant prize. Proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
- from Sonnet 151, William Shakespeare
Okay, see what I mean? All that "rising", "point", "proud", going on . . . And, her "affairs" that "he" is standing in . . . That's why this sonnet has been recognised as Shakespeare's particularly bawdy verse. He says here that he is but a "poor drudge", or in other words bound by the desire between them, to "stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side." Basically, he sees himself as made subordinate by the power of her beauty and the sexual energy in their relationship - a reason/excuse for those wrongs that he was discussing with his partner in the earlier lines.
No want of conscience hold it that I call
Her 'love' for whose dear love I rise and fall.
- from Sonnet 151, William Shakespeare
The theme of this sonnet is most definitely a sexual one, and more specifically the sexual love that exists in an adulterous relationship, along with the feelings of guilt that come with that. And, Shakespeare makes much use of sexual imagery in this sonnet to get that across.
Shakespeare was not averse to innuendo and bawdiness. His plays would have been performed in front of rowdy audiences seeking amusement and fun, audiences that would appreciate a little rude joke or two. His writing was not meant for study, but for entertainment and the emotions. This is not the only instance in which he discussed the sexual and the physical, it's there in other of his poetry, and in his plays. Though perhaps we missed it because we associate them with the dry English Lit. classes in which we studied them at school.
Though Shakespeare took on more spiritual love, beauty, death, comedy, tragedy, and mystery, he was not averse to getting a little low brow. Sex was not outside the purview of the great bard.
If you enjoyed this post, maybe you would like to read my other post on Shakespeare's sonnets here - it's a shorter and lighter read than this post.
You can purchase a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets here (Disclosure: if you make a purchase through links in this blog, I may earn commission rom the sellers, but that does not influence the content of this blog).
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Thank you. Read lots. Take long walks. And be kind.