William Shakespeare’s Life & Times: Sexuality in Shakespeare’s England

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.

Homosexual sex was rarely written about in direct language. 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.