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An important historical source
On the Moors appeared in 1550, when a Moorish convert to Christianity named Johannes Leo Africanus published A Geographical History of Africa. Leo, whose Arabic name was al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī, described his extensive travels in Africa and attempted to list the traits of African people. His descriptions are neutral, listing both good and bad traits. These traits became increasingly stereotyped as Leo’s book was translated in European languages and the translators made his descriptions more negative. In the English translation by John Pory, published in 1600, Leo says that Africans are “most honest people” but also “subject to jealousy.” They are “proud,” “high-minded,” “addicted unto wrath,” and “credulous.” Shakespeare likely read Leo in Pory’s translation. We know this because Shakespeare’s most famous Moorish character, Othello, demonstrates many of these traits. Iago exploits Othello’s credulousness and jealousy to make him suspect 3Desdemona of adultery, and it is the Moor’s tendency to wrath which causes him to murder his wife. Leo also says that Moors are vulnerable to the “falling sickness,” which may lie behind Othello’s “epilepsy.”
Though the term didn’t exist at the time, “heterosexuality” was compulsory in Shakespeare’s England. Heterosexual relationships—those between a man and a woman—were carefully managed through the institution of marriage. Marriage was thought to play a particularly important role in controlling women’s sexual desires. Many people believed that all women were tainted by Eve’s original sin, as told in the biblical book of Genesis. As a result of this sin, women were believed to have a naturally insatiable desire for sex. In order to curb female desire, sex had to be confined to marriage and restricted to acts of reproduction. Women’s sexuality was further restricted, such that they were not allowed to engage in sexual acts while menstruating, pregnant, or breastfeeding. The Church had a strong influence on sexuality within marriage. Married couples were only allowed to have intercourse in the “missionary” style, and they were not allowed to have sex during Advent, Easter week, Lent, or on feast days. As much as Elizabethans followed these rules, they also broke them. Male adultery was especially common. The same could not be said for women, however, since female adultery could have violent consequences. A man who suspected his wife of infidelity could freely beat her with no legal recourse—unless he killed her.
Just as the term “heterosexuality” didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s England, neither did the term “homosexuality.” Even so, Elizabethans did acknowledge the existence of same-sex desire, and cultural attitudes toward same-sex desire were somewhat flexible. Although intercourse between people of the same sex was a serious crime, same-sex friendship, and especially friendship between men, was often expressed in language that seems romantic or even erotic to a modern reader. Friends spoke and wrote of their love and longing for one another. Close friends were expected to be physically affectionate, which meant it wasn’t unusual for people of the same sex to embrace, kiss, or share a bed. Because passionate non-sexual love between people of the same sex was encouraged, it’s hard to know how same-sex desire was understood by the people who experienced it, or how often they acted on these desires. Regardless of their sexual feelings or behaviors, a person in Shakespeare’s time would not have identified as “gay,” “lesbian,” or “bisexual,” as those designations were not yet available.
The most obvious direct reference appears in the “Buggery Act” of 1530, which made sodomy a capital offense and punishable by death. The Buggery Act defined sodomy as acts of anal penetration or bestiality, and it characterized such acts as unnatural and against the will of God. The only other surviving direct references to homosexual relationships appeared in the wake of the Buggery Act, in accusations of sodomy lodged against men. Written accusations of sodomy don’t necessarily tell us anything about the way homosexual relationships actually happened, but they do tell us what circumstances made ordinary Elizabethans suspicious that a friendship between men had become a sexual relationship. Men who were close friends could be suspected of homosexuality if they came from different socioeconomic classes, or if one friend appeared to be committed to the friendship primarily for financial reasons. Certain social groups, especially those subject to other prejudices, were also considered more likely to commit sodomy. One such group was the unpopular community of Italian merchants.
Shakespeare reflected Elizabethan standards of heterosexuality in his plays by emphasizing the importance of marriage, and particularly the importance of remaining chaste until marriage. In The Tempest, for example, Prospero threatens Ferdinand not to break Miranda’s “virgin-knot” (IV.i.), and the young man quickly assents. Other Shakespearean couples piously await marriage before having sex, including young lovers in The Merchant of Venice (Portia and Bassanio), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius), Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice and Benedick), and many others. Just as Shakespeare highlighted the importance of pre-marriage chastity, he also referenced the importance of sex within marriage, and particularly the role of sex in the consummation of marriage. This represents an important plot point in Romeo and Juliet. When the young couple wakes up after having apparently slept together in Juliet’s room the night after Friar Laurence marries them, Shakespeare leaves it ambiguous as to whether they actually had sex. Church doctrine insisted that marriage must be consummated by the sexual act, so the ambiguity in this scene leaves it unclear whether the lovers’ marriage can be considered legally binding.
With regard to representations of same-sex desire, all plays were subject to official censorship, and Shakespeare would have been in trouble if any of his plays or poems had depicted homosexuality directly. A certain amount of same-sex eroticism was built in to all Elizabethan drama, because female parts were taken by boys. This cross-dressing invited male spectators to appreciate the beauty of boy actors as if they were women. Boys playing female roles also meant that all onstage kissing and caressing took place between male actors. Several of Shakespeare’s plays enhance these effects by requiring a female character to dress as a man. Rosalind in As You Like It dresses as a boy and flirts with the man she loves by asking him to pretend that “he” is really a girl. In those scenes, Orlando, a man played by a man, is wooing a boy actor playing the part of a girl who is dressed as a boy. If nothing else, As You Like It strongly suggests that gender is not the most important aspect of the attraction between two people.
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