Twelfth Night question

I think people spend far too much time looking for traces of homoerotic content is Shakespeare's plays. Not to mention Oedipal desires and other such psychoanalytical projections. Still, I am intrigued enough to ask... what subtle indications did you see?

I never considered Shakespeare to even write anything with such undertones. But Antonio's liking of Sebastian just seems way too personal for an Elizabethan play I believe.

I didnt get the overtones from Viola.

I think there was more crossdressing than anything else.

Are you aware that it's long been rumoured that Shakespeare was bisexual? It's not unlikely that some of the people he wrote were queer.

Any acts outside of gender roles were highly looked down upon and sometimes punishable by law. Women dressed as men, anyone dressing above their station, and yes especially over affection. True, women were allowed to be affectionate in those times but men were expected to uphold the most masculine image, one of power and strength. So, to anyone saying Antonio was probably just an affectionate friend... that may have been an okayish coverup but it still did not happen because homosexuality in any form was completely illegal and a disgrace against the church. That's why Shakespeare had to be so careful with these themes.

I think that you will find this essay interesting and helpful:

http://thethingthatreadsalot.wordpres...

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that, Yes there are certain homosexual overtones in the play. After all Viola spends most of the play disguised as a young man named Cesario.

Also in Shakespeare's time young men played all the female roles. So we have a young man playing a young woman, playing a young man. Not only that he/she's advising the count about courting a young woman and meanwhile she's falling for the duke...

How could there be any homosexual overtones in that?