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== Sonnet controversy ==

== Sonnet controversy ==

Some critics have suggested that Shakespeare was gay or bisexual, but Stanley Wells writes, in ''Looking for Sex in Shakespeare'', that more recent, liberal commentators have possibly allowed their ideology to influence their understanding.<ref> Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp.8–9.</ref> Love sonnet 20 appears to condemn [[homosexuality]] by asking whether the narrator, presumably a man, has fallen in love with someone who was originally a woman turned into a man by nature, which implies that [[homosexuality]] is an aberrant form of [[sexuality]].

 

Because some of these love sonnets are about male beauty, critics have suggested that Shakespeare was gay or bisexual. But Stanley Wells writes, in ''Looking for Sex in Shakespeare'', that more recent, liberal commentators have possibly allowed their ideology to influence their understanding.<ref> Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp.8–9.</ref> Love sonnet 20 appears to condemn [[homosexuality]] by asking whether the narrator, presumably a man, has fallen in love with someone who was originally a woman turned into a man by nature, which implies that [[homosexuality]] is an aberrant form of [[sexuality]].

Many of Shakespeare's sonnets are tributes to male beauty, but the narrator could have been a woman, or the love sonnets could be fantasies about a woman in love with Shakespeare.  Many refer to a "Fair Lord" or "Fair Youth," who scholars assume is the same person as "Mr W.H.", to whom the sonnets are dedicated. That there are very few exclusive female pronouns in these sonnets has led liberal critics to believe that Shakespeare was gay.

Many of Shakespeare's sonnets are tributes to male beauty, but the narrator could have been a woman, or the love sonnets could be fantasies about a woman in love with Shakespeare.  Many refer to a "Fair Lord" or "Fair Youth," who scholars assume is the same person as "Mr W.H.", to whom the sonnets are dedicated. That there are very few exclusive female pronouns in these sonnets has led liberal critics to believe that Shakespeare was gay.