Shakespeare, Sex, and Love

Shakespear, Sex, and Love

Here is a lively look at how Shakespeare's treatment of human sexuality in his plays and poems relates to the sexual conventions, sexual mores, and actual sexual behaviors of his day.
Pre-eminent Shakespeare critic Stanley Wells draws on historical and anecdotal sources to present an illuminating account of sexual behavior--and its consequences--in Shakespeare's time, particularly in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Shakespeare's Stratford was a hotbed of small-town gossip; the town's records reveal many cases of slander involving accusations of cuckoldry and whoredom, as well as many prosecutions for fornication, sexual "incontinence," and adultery. Wells thoroughly explores this milieu, demonstrating what we know or can deduce of the sex lives of Shakespeare and members of his family and providing a fascinating account of depictions of sexuality in the poetry of the period. Wells even points to specific recorded events that find their way into lines and subplots in the plays.
In the second half of the book, Wells goes on to explore the variety of ways in which Shakespeare treats sexuality in his plays and how he relates sexuality to love. Chapters cover everything from the fun that Shakespeare gets out of sex in his comedies; to the ways he relates sexual desire to both lust and love; to sexual jealousy in four major plays; and to Romeo and Juliet as the play in which Shakespeare focuses most centrally on issues relating to sex, love, and the relationship between them. "Whores and Saints" looks at his portrayals of the extremes of womanhood, and a final chapter, "Just Good Friends," investigates his depiction of same-gender relationships.
Whether as a source of comedy, drama, debate, or passion, sex in Shakespeare's plays and poems is always intriguing, and there is no better guide to this subject than Stanley Wells.

As anyone who has read the non-Bowdlerized editions of his plays can attest, Shakespeare loved a lusty line. His plays are filled to the brim with bawdy puns and sly double entendres. Just how packed the Bard's plays are becomes quickly clear in Wells' sober, clearly written, scholarly examination of love and lust in Shakespeare's life, times, and work. Wells begins with a quick summary of sexual mores in Shakespeare's England, including the prevalence of the crime of “incontinency”—premarital and extramarital dalliances—in the country in general, and in Shakespeare's Stratford in particular. He then moves on to a brief but fascinating survey of how Shakespeare's contemporaries handled sexual themes. (No surprise here; the Elizabethans were not very Victorian.) The heart of the book, though, is Wells' close study of the plays and of noteworthy contemporary productions that have increasingly emphasized the erotic in the Bard's words. In lively prose, Wells covers issues of love and romance, sexual jealousy, the prevalence of “whores and saints” among Shakespeare's women, and the homoerotic elements in his plays and poetry. --Jack Helbig

"The book is splendid in its range of investigating aspects of human sexuality, all in such convincing historical and cultural context--at once open to modern interpretation and keenly aware of early modern perspectives on the same points of contention...This book is a page-turner." --David Bevington, University of Chicago

"He treads a precise and delicate path through Shakespeare's works." --Times Literary Supplement

"Wells brings to the task all the skills of a great editor, formidable knowledge of the works and their contexts, and a cheerful tolerance for everyone's sexual habits." --New York Review of Books

"Elegantly written study...Wells's approach is elegant, clear, and refreshingly free from jargon"--Elizabeth Klett, Comparative Drama