My Early Shakespeare professor (circa 1998) discussed the theory that several sonnets were written to a younger man, but that didn't lead to an OMGZ HE WAS GAY discussion.
I sadly miss my lit classes. Must be about time for me to go back and get the master's degree.
I also thoroughly agree with wanting to be more like Elizabeth than Mary - I'm guessing you're referring to Mary Stuart rather than Mary Tudor, but honestly, I wouldn't want to be like Mary Tudor either.
Mary was a notoriously bad judge of character - which led to her downfall, and for as much as her childhood emotionally damaged her, Elizabeth learned quite a great deal from the insecurity - which helped her in her future dealings as ruler. It's a very interesting comparison between the two.
Yes, it is Mary Stuart. I'm really enjoying Elizabeth & Mary. It is a little odd to have a biography of two people at once, but since they were such close contemporaries, the author decided to trace their lives side by side, constantly switching between the two to contrast how their formative years shaped them into such different women, and ultimately determined how and why they reacted to each other the way that they did. She manages to do it with a remarkable lack of favoritism, too.
See, my problem is that I have the benefit of hindsight and scream in frustration when I read biographies of Mary Stuart. I want to beat her for some of the very stupid decisions she made in the course of "ruling" Scotland.
Elizabeth I's my role model, tho. She's not totally free of mistakes in judgment, but she was much wiser about her choices.
There were a host of interesting parallels, tho - Darnley and Leicester is the one that's really coming to mind. It's a pity they never got to meet face to face. That would've been quite interesting.
And am I ever going to have a huge Amazon order - must have new history to read. x.x
The OMG GAY discussions usually stem from the series of sonnets that were addressed to/extolling the virtues of a beautiful young man. It's been a while since I've read the sonnets, but IIRC there's a series that basically has the speaker torn between a "dark lady" who represents a sort of earthly fleshly sinful love, and a "golden boy" who represents light, beauty, purity, etc... the "master mistress of his heart", etc.
The thing is, of course, just because Shakespeare *wrote them* doesn't mean he was the speaker. I think people tend to forget that back then, people didn't necessarily write for TEH PURITY OF ART, but also to pay the bills, flatter their patrons, etc.
HAHAHA, yes. After sitting through a discussion of why A Midsummer Night's Dream was really quite rife with politics and conspiracy, I very much wanted to either kill people and/or point out that Shakespeare wrote to FILL SEATS and therefore NOT STARVE. Not, however much one twists the meaning of words in their period context, as a declaration that the truth was out there. It was a startling moment then, when I realized that I actually missed my drama classes.
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I sadly miss my lit classes. Must be about time for me to go back and get the master's degree.
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Mary was a notoriously bad judge of character - which led to her downfall, and for as much as her childhood emotionally damaged her, Elizabeth learned quite a great deal from the insecurity - which helped her in her future dealings as ruler. It's a very interesting comparison between the two.
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Elizabeth I's my role model, tho. She's not totally free of mistakes in judgment, but she was much wiser about her choices.
There were a host of interesting parallels, tho - Darnley and Leicester is the one that's really coming to mind. It's a pity they never got to meet face to face. That would've been quite interesting.
And am I ever going to have a huge Amazon order - must have new history to read. x.x
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The thing is, of course, just because Shakespeare *wrote them* doesn't mean he was the speaker. I think people tend to forget that back then, people didn't necessarily write for TEH PURITY OF ART, but also to pay the bills, flatter their patrons, etc.
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