While I was watching the movie I was on chat with my cousin Ren occasionally making comments about it and she wasn't aware of the controversy over whether or not Shakespeare was bi so I looked for a good article to link her to and in the process found out that the sonnet that begins "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day" was written to a man.
I had a good laugh at how certain academics are twisting themselves into knots to deny that Will, or any of his male characters, might have a sexual interest in another man.
Hey, thanks for the shout out! I've seen many productions of 12th Night, and actually it is one of my favorites, probably because the first version I saw had Judi Dench as Viola (lo these many years ago) and it was suffused with the most palpable melancholy imaginable. But even from the first I saw Malvolio as tragic, and always felt terrible at the end when all the "cool kids" gang up on him. It also probably helped that the Antonio in that production was a hunky muscular sailor with 5-o'clock shadow and a vivid obsession with Sebastian. And so, the rest is history.
One teeny correction: my screen name is spelled ShayhEyred, with an e, not an a.
Thanks again for all your lovely comments, here and on the AO3.
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I had a good laugh at how certain academics are twisting themselves into knots to deny that Will, or any of his male characters, might have a sexual interest in another man.
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I've seen many productions of 12th Night, and actually it is one of my favorites, probably because the first version I saw had Judi Dench as Viola (lo these many years ago) and it was suffused with the most palpable melancholy imaginable. But even from the first I saw Malvolio as tragic, and always felt terrible at the end when all the "cool kids" gang up on him. It also probably helped that the Antonio in that production was a hunky muscular sailor with 5-o'clock shadow and a vivid obsession with Sebastian. And so, the rest is history.
One teeny correction: my screen name is spelled ShayhEyred, with an e, not an a.
Thanks again for all your lovely comments, here and on the AO3.
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I'll have to look for that production. I adore Judi Dench.
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