History HoYay / WilliamShakespeare

* On a Meta level, some of Shakespeare's plays have a male character wooing a female character who is [[RecursiveCrossdressing both ''played'' by a man (often young men or boys whose voices haven't changed yet) and ''disguised'' as a man]]. End result: Two men on stage making out. Wiki/ThatOtherWiki suggests that it might have been a [[OlderThanSteam very early]] form of {{Fanservice}}.

** ...And then increases the FoeYay by describing a recurring dream of "fighting" with Coriolanus:

* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' and Horatio. Horatio is Hamlet's close friend, confidant and ultimately the only one Hamlet really trusts throughout, and [[TogetherInDeath almost kills himself at Hamlet's death]]. And, he says the line "Goodnight sweet prince." If that line isn't HoYay, than what is? Not to mention the subtext almost doubles when you look at how crappily Hamlet treats his girlfriend, or the strong evidence that the characters were inspired by the scandal-ridden [[FoeYay Brahe and Kepler]].

* How can we forget Hal/Hotspur from ''Theatre/HenryIVPart1''? FoeYay meets HoYay, big time.

*** There is also some FoeYay shared between Achilles and his rival, Hector, each of whom is curiously obsessed with [[DoubleEntendre seeing the other unarmed]].

** Hermia and Helena have all the trappings of a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship. "I evermore did love you, Hermia"...
*** Helena's jealousy towards Hermia leads her to languish over her rival's beauties in a way that toes the line between envy and desire. Hermia telling Helena where she and Lysander will meet could easily come across as an invitation, given the romantic language she employs.
----> '''Hermia:''' And in the wood where often you and I upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie, emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, there my Lysander and myself shall meet.

---->Let me twine
---->Mine arms about that body, where against
---->My grained ash an hundred times hath broke
---->And scarr'd the moon with splinters: here I clip
---->The anvil of my sword, and do contest
---->As hotly and as nobly with thy love
---->As ever in ambitious strength I did
---->Contend against thy valour. Know thou first,
---->I loved the maid I married; never man
---->Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here,
---->Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart
---->Than when I first my wedded mistress saw
---->Bestride my threshold. Why, thou Mars! I tell thee,
---->We have a power on foot; and I had purpose
---->Once more to hew thy target from thy brawn,
---->Or lose mine arm fort: thou hast beat me out
---->Twelve several times, and I have nightly since
---->Dreamt of encounters 'twixt thyself and me;
---->We have been down together in my sleep,
---->Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat,
---->And waked half dead with nothing.

--> HAMLET
-->Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man
-->As e'er my conversation coped withal.
-->HORATIO
-->O my dear lord-
-->HAMLET
-->Nay, do not think I flatter.
-->For what advancement may I hope from thee
-->That no revenue hast but thy good spirits,
-->To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flattered?

--> ...Dost thou hear?
-->Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice,
-->And could of men distinguish, her election
-->Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been
-->As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing;
-->A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
-->Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those
-->Whose blood and judgement are so well comingle
-->That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
-->To sound what stop she please. Give me that man
-->That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
-->In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
-->As I do thee.

-->HOTSPUR:
-->But be he as he will, yet once ere night
-->I will embrace him with a soldier's arm,
-->That he shall shrink [tremble] under my courtesy.

-->HOTSPUR:
-->Come, let me taste my horse,
-->Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt
-->Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:
-->Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
-->Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.

---->'''Cassius''': Give me your hand.
---->'''Brutus''': And my heart, too.
---->''They embrace.''

--> '''Cassius:''' I denied you not.
--> '''Brutus:''' You did.
--> '''Cassius:''' I did not. He was but a fool that brought
--> My answer back. Brutus hath rived my heart.

--> '''Cassius:''' You love me not.
--> '''Brutus:''' I do not like your faults.

---> '''Hermia:''' And in the wood where often you and I upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie, emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, there my Lysander and myself shall meet.

---> '''Othello:''' ''*kneels*'' In the due reverence of a sacred vow
---> I here engage my words.
---> '''Iago:''' Do not rise yet. ''*kneels*''
---> Witness, you ever-burning lights above,
---> You elements that clip us round about,
---> Witness that here Iago doth give up
---> The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
---> To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command,
---> And to obey shall be in me remorse,
---> What bloody business ever.
---> ''*they rise*''
---> '''Othello:''' I greet thy love,
---> Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
---> And will upon the instant put thee to't:
---> Within these three days let me hear thee say
---> That Cassio's not alive.
---> . . .
---> '''Iago:''' I am your own for ever.

--> ’Lo, thus’ quoth Dighton, ’lay those tender babes:’
--> ’Thus, thus,’ quoth Forrest, ’girdling one another
--> Within their innocent alabaster arms:
--> Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
--> Which in their summer beauty kiss’d each other.

---->'''Mercutio''': And but a word with one of us ? Couple it with something. Make it a word and a blow.
---->'''Tybalt''': You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion.
---->'''Mercutio''': Could you not take some occasion without giving ?
---->'''Tybalt''': Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo.

-->I am content to be Lucentio,
-->Because so well I love Lucentio.

-->Ariel: Do you love me, master? No?
-->Prospero: Dearly, my delicate Ariel.

--> THERSITES
--> Prithee be silent, boy. I profit not by thy talk. Thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet.
--> PATROCLUS
--> 'Male varlet', you rogue? What's that?
--> THERSITES
--> Why, his masculine whore.

--> "If you will not murder me for my love, let me be your servant."

--> A woman's face, with nature's own hand painted
--> Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
--> A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
--> With shifting change as is false women's fashion;
--> An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
--> Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
--> A man in hue, all hues in his controlling,
--> Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
--> And for a woman wert though first created,
--> Till nature as she wrought thee fell a-doting,
--> And by addition me of thee defeated
--> By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
--> But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,
--> Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

* ''Theatre/RichardII'' and Aumerle. In the 2013 RSC production with David Tennant they actually make out.

* ''{{Theatre/Coriolanus}}'' takes this trope to the level of deliberate HomoeroticSubtext. The title character betrays Rome to join with an invading army led by Aufidius. Aufidius's reaction can be paraphrased as "I love my wife, but this makes me happier than I was on my wedding day."

* In ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor'', Ford notes the LesYay between his ''own wife'' and her best friend, Mistress Page, telling them "I think if your husbands were dead, you two would marry." Undercut slightly by Mistress Page's response ("Be sure of that--two other husbands") and the fact that Ford's marital jealousy is his defining character fault...

** Antonio and Sebastian spend most of the time giggling and making witty comments to each other in the background of the scenes, or else plotting together and saying things that amount to, 'when I'm king, I'll love you.' It doesn't help that they have the same names as a certain pair from Theatre/TwelfthNight.

* Antonio from ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' seems to be ''very'' fond of Sebastian, going to far as to travel into the land of his longtime enemy, Orsino, in order to follow Sebastian. Those Antonios, man!

** Antonio calls himself a "castrated ram." That's not a hint or a subtle nudge, that's a direct, blatant euphemism (in Elizabethan English). There's not really a grey area as to his sexuality.

** The 2010 "A Queer Midsummer Night's Dream" does the same thing, but without swapping their names.

** Also a Les Yay: Rosalind and Celia. Le Beau even says that their love is "closer than the natural bond of sisters".
** And more Les Yay with Rosalind and Phoebe. Phoebe falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Rosalind dressed as a man when Silvius is trying to get her to marry him.

---> But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,
---> Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

* Proteus and Valentine in ''Theatre/TheTwoGentlemenOfVerona'' can come across as AmbiguouslyGay, right from their opening speeches to each other. Proteus' FaceHeelTurn and errant pursuit of Silvia can, accordingly, be seen as motivated not so much by actually wanting her as by jealousy of her for "stealing away" his friend, and despite the fact that he grievously wrongs her, Julia and Valentine, the remorse he expresses at the end is only on account of the latter.

** Hell, it was pretty blatant in the Creator/FrancoZeffirelli version as well. They're about two inches away from each other during the Queen Mab speech. This may have been intentional, given Zeffirelli's inclinations. Though, with Romeo's pining for Rosaline and then (supposedly) more mature pining for Juliet, it's very likely that much of it could have been unrequited.