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Homosexuality in Renaissance England

Homosexuality in England during the time of the Renaissance, generally considered to last from 1550-1600, is different from the West's modern perceptions of homosexuality. The English Renaissance saw the condemnation of homosexual acts through laws, yet the presence (or implied presence) of homosexual couples and acts in literature of the time flourished. Documented or fictionalized accounts of sexual or romantic relationships between women in Renaissance England are far less frequently found than instances of male-male homosexuality.

Terminology

People living during the time of the English Renaissance did not use the term homosexuality simply because it did not exist, thus nobody living in the period would have identified as gay as people understand the term today. It wasn't until a "distinct homosexual subculture developed in the late nineteenth century" that homosexuality was seen more as an identity of a person rather than an individual act. As Jonathan Goldberg puts it, homosexuality was "invisible so long as homosexual acts failed to connect with the much more visible signs of social disruption represented by unorthodox religious or social positions."

Compared to "homosociality"

As modern Western thought confuses the two, scholars argue that the distinction between homosexuality and homosociality must be made clear in studying sexuality of Renaissance England. Scholars claim that imposing the modern West's understanding of homosexuality onto Renaissance works of literature inaccurately represents how society actually was. During the time, homosociality was understood as intense emotional connections built between men. In addition, homosociality in society did not include women because they were undesirable, but because they were seen as objects through which males could uphold their power in society. Therefore, homosociality between men in Renaissance England was just as important as the bond between men and women in order to procreate. Diana Ireland Stanley argues that this homosociality was upheld in the plays of William Shakespeare, focusing on the relationship between the title characters of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. She asserts the relationship depicted between Valentine and Proteus exemplifies Renaissance England's societal stance on homosociality's importance to society.

This confusion of the terms can stem from the change in vernacular over time. Ace Pilkington argues that people in Renaissance England had yet to undergo the "Victorian deep freeze," during which the public generally subdued their emotions and expressions towards others. Instead, they conflated language used for lovers and language used for friends into one, as intimate as the rhetoric was. This is not to say that all instances of supposed homosexuality in Renaissance England were homosociality.

Compared to "sodomy"

Sodomy is another term that is not synonymous with homosexuality. Referring to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis, the term's definition would refer to only anal sex In Renaissance England, especially before the courts, sodomy referred to a sin that could be performed between two men, a man and a woman, or a person and a beast.

Legality

King Henry VIII, under whom the Buggery Act 1533 was passed into law.

During the Renaissance, homosexual relationships were largely illegal. The Holy Roman Empire made sodomy punishable by death in 1532, while Parliament during Henry VIII 's reign passed The Buggery Act 1533, making sodomy illegal and punishable by hanging. This law was enacted as part of a set of laws aimed to attack the Roman Catholic Church, and was revoked under Henry VIII's daughter, Mary I. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, however, sodomy was once again made illegal and punishable by death through a 1562-1563 statute.

These laws led to an increase in fear in society of the repercussions of committing such crimes because an accusation of committing sodomy or "buggery" was substantial enough to ruin a person's social standing and career. Consequently, writers and artists were hesitant in publishing works that would paint homosexual attraction or acts in a positive light, leading authors to address homosexuality in a more implicit rather than explicit manner. In his pivotal work Homosexuality in Renaissance England, Alan Bray acknowledges that “it is difficult to exaggerate the fear and loathing of homosexuality to be read in the literature of the time."

In literature

Instances of homosexual desire and references to homosexual acts can be found throughout English Renaissance art and literature, but as a subject it was largely muted in order to avoid being called into public question for writing about acts that went against the strict rule of the church. For example, Shakespeare never included direct and unambiguous references to homosexual acts in his works. However, the language he used to describe close relationships between individuals of the same sex has led scholars to explore what Shakespeare left ambiguous. The 1960's wave of feminist and queer theory literary criticism oversaw a wave of new readings of historic works, redefining the traditionally heteronormative, white, and cisgender interpretations of literary works in history. As a result, many poems, plays, and other works of Renaissance art have been analyzed from a new perspective and given rise to interpretations involving more homosexual relationships than previously and commonly expected.

Poetry

Shakespeare's sexuality is widely disputed by scholars, citing his sonnets that hint at the speaker's sexual attraction towards an anonymous male. Further, the poems of Richard Barnfield have been understood to have homoerotic themes. According to the Poetry Foundation, Barnfield's book The Affectionate Shephard was controversial during its time due to its possible dedication to a man.

Theatre

It's important to consider not only the plots and characters of Renaissance drama to find implied homosexuality, but to also analyze the context in which such plays were performed. The public theatre of Renaissance England was seen by Puritans as a site for expression of homoerotic desires. For example, Puritan Phillip Stubbs in his Anatomie of Abuses (1583) criticized the art by describing that

the flocking and running to Theaters and Curtains, daily and hourly, night and day, time and tide, to see plays and interludes, where such wanton gestures, such bawdy speeches, such laughing and fleering, such kissing and bussing, such clipping and culling, such winking and glancing of wanton eyes and the like, is used as is wonderful to behold. Then, these goodly pageants being done, every mate sorts to his mate, every one brings another homeward of their way very friendly, and in their secret conclaves covertly they play the sodomites or worse. And these be the fruits of plays and interludes for the most part.

During the English Renaissance, professional theatre troupes consisted only of men. Therefore, plays that portrayed men and women falling in love inherently had a homoerotic subtext because of the male actors playing the roles. Such homoerotic subtext was further complicated by such plays as Shakespeare's As You Like It, in which the character Orlando practices flirtation techniques on Ganymede, who is actually the disguised Rosalind, the object of Orlando's affection. In Shakespeare's time, this scene would consist of a boy acting as a girl acting as a boy acting as a girl. Additionally, As You Like It ends with an epilogue given by the actor playing Rosalind:

If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not. And I am sure, as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell. (Epi. 16-21)

However it is left ambiguous whether it is Rosalind, Ganymede, or the actual actor who speaks those lines.

Homosexuality between men

A depiction of Bassanio from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Much speculation surrounds the relationship between the characters Bassanio and Antonio in The Merchant of Venice. Scholars dispute the source of Antonio's unexplained melancholy at the opening of the play. One proposed reading posits this sadness is actually caused by Antonio's yearning for Bassanio, logically supported by the great lengths he will go to ensure the safety of his friend.

Before Antonio is to be killed, he makes what he believes is his final plea to Bassanio:

Commend me to your honourable wife:

Tell her the process of Antonio’s end;

Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;

And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge

Whether Bassanio had not once a love. (4.1.269-73)

Further, Bassanio reciprocates Antonio's admiration for him before the entire court by saying:

Antonio, I am married to a wife

Which is as dear to me as life itself,

But life itself, my wife, and all the world

Are not with me esteemed above thy life.

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all

Here to this devil, to deliver you. (4.1.279-284)

The homoerotic subtext of the above passages is made clear because the "usage of one man as the ‘love’ of another is rare, and with the exception of the Sonnets does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare, or in the period.”

Christopher Marlowe's Edward II has also been analyzed for homoerotic themes, focusing on the relationship between the characters Edward and Gaveston. In organizing a masque to be put on, Gaveston talks about "a lovely boy in Dian's shape… / And in his sportful hands an olive tree / To hide those parts which men delight to see" (1.1.60–63).

Homosexuality between women

The relationship between Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It has been speculated by scholars to be romantic (although they are cousins) as suggested by Celia's complaint that

Rosalind lacks then the love

Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one.

Shall we be sund’red? (1.3.94–96)

Mimicking the language used for an Anglican marriage ceremony (“Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder") Celia equates the strength of her love for Rosalind to love between married men and women. A similar sentiment is expressed by Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Through explaining her devotion to Hermia, Helena says that the two grew up "together, / Like to a double cherry, [...] Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; / So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart." The comparison to cherries is important in that cherries carried heavy sexual connotations. Helena then compares their close connection "Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, / Due but to one and crowned with one crest." (3.2.213 –214) This refers to quartering a coat of arms because of the joining of two families through conventional marriage. As Celia defends her love for Rosalind as equal to that of a patriarchal marriage, Helena similarly asserts that she and Hermia are already bonded as if under the same family name. While these examples could be instances of homosociality, that concept rests on the belief that the strong friendships are solely between men, and that women were intellectually unable to sustain those kinds of relationships. Further, Helena and Hermia never crossdress in the play, thus their affection for each other occurs despite each of their apparent female identities.

Title page of Gallathea.

Scholars have also cited John Lyly's play Gallathea as a representation of lesbianism in English Renaissance drama. In the play, two young women, disguised as boys, fall in love with each other. When their identities are revealed, Venus claims that she will transform one of them into a boy in order to comply with the heterosexual norms of the time. However, the goddess never clarifies which girl will be transformed and the transformation is never performed onstage, causing some scholars to see this as an early rejection of heteronormative society.

As seen above, possible lesbianism in Renaissance England drama largely centered around mistaken identities. However, Giovanni Battista Guarini's 1590 tragicomedy Il pastor fido represents female attraction in a conscious way. In the play, the shepherd Mirtillo disguises himself as a female and wins a kissing competition among his lover, Amaryll, and her accompanying pastoral women. In the original version of the play, as well as in Sir Richard Fenshaw's 1647 English translation, Mirtillo's true gender is not revealed to Amaryll. While the reader of the play (or viewer of Anthony von Dyck's painting of the two lovers embracing) is aware of Mirtillo's gender identity, Amaryll is unaware. Valerie Traub argues that this situation draws lesbianism in Renaissance England into question, for "How hetero is Amaryllis’s desire if, in the prehistory of the painting and more explicitly in the play, she has believed this fabulous kisser to be a woman?".

See also

• Elizabethan era
• History of homosexuality
• History of lesbianism
• Jacobean era
• LGBT history