History HoYay / WilliamShakespeare

** 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 "TwelfthNight".

** 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.'

** Hell, it was pretty blatant in the Franco Zeffirelli 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 Rosalind and then (supposedly) more mature pining for Juliet, it's very likely that much of it could have been unrequited.

** How about Hermia and Helena in AMidsummerNightsDream, which definitely looks like another RomanticTwoGirlFriendship. "I evermore did love you, Hermia"...

** The Syracusian Antipholus and Dromio in ''The Comedy of Errors'' definitely had some sort of bromance going on. One production color-coded them in pink AND had them clinging to each other repeatedly did NOT help.

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

** In the above quote, which comes in their ''first scene together'', there are puns on "murder" ("to die" could also mean "to orgasm") and "servant" (both in the still-familiar sense of "servicing" someone and as an archetype in courtly love. Ambiguity goes out the window very early on.

* In Henry V, iii, viii was listed in our S.M's script as "Big Gay Love Scene". And then there's iv, vi. An intimate scene between Exeter and Harry in which Exeter weeps as he relates to Harry Suffolk and York's "testament to noble-ending love". Harry also gives Exeter his coat at some point earlier on.

* In TheTempest, Prospero and [[ViewerGenderConfusion Ariel]] can be interpreted this way. Prospero is inordinately fond of calling him by pet names ("my bird", "my chick", "my delicate Ariel").

-->Prospero: Dearly, my delicate Ariel.

* ''{{Hamlet}}'' and Horatio. Horatio is Hamlet's close friend, confidant and ultimatly the only one Hamlet really trusts throughout, and 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]].

** Please note that in Shakespeare's time, the name "Antonio" was associated with gay men. So it's pretty much canon that both Antonios are gay. Hurray for Shakespeare!

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

* The epicenter of Shakespearean HoYay is Sonnet 20, which combines a straightforwardly homoerotic surface meaning with enough double and triple entendres that, in this troper's edition, the annotations explaining them are longer than the poem itself:

* This troper went to a production of TheTempest where Ariel was played by a girl and, thus, PromotedToLoveInterest for Prospero. They made their final scene of him setting her free also him ''proposing'' to her, and they walk off and kiss. Then I remembered that in the play, Ariel is actually male...

*** Though, this troper would argue that that isn't so much Ho Yay, especially since Iago is usually regarded as the 'evil' or 'jealous' side of Othello. That act of fealty, especially when taking in the medieval context of fealty, is much more likely to be Othello agree to protect his jealousy, thereby legitimizing it. (This troper believes this might be the first time she's ever argued agaist Ho Yay in anything. Ever.)
**** Iago is not "usually regarded" to be anything; his motivations are one of the big mysteries of Shakespeare studies. Viewing him as a personification of Othello's evil impulses is just one interpretation, and not particularly the leading one.
*** The 2001 re-imagining featuring Eamonn Walker and ChristopherEccleston included a scene in which Iago takes a cheek swab from Othello for a DNA test. He leaves the swab in Othello's mouth for an awfully long while...
** In ''Coriolanus'', 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."
*** ...And then increases the FoeYay by describing a recurring dream of "fighting" with Coriolanus.
** And let us not ignore the LesYay in certain plays, especially the extreme closeness between Cleopatra and her ha ndmaidens or Rosalind and Celia in ''As You Like It''. Not to mention "But yet I cannot love him" Olivia in Twelfth Night. Once you start looking, the LesYay is everywhere!
** The Syracusian Antipholus and Dromio in ''The Comedy of Errors'' definitely had some sort of bromance going on. Maybe it's just because this troper's mind has been inclined towards teh gay in [[JeevesAndWooster master/servant relationships]], but the production I saw that color-coded them in pink AND had them clinging to each other repeatedly did NOT help.
** Maybe it was just the production, but [[{{Tropers/Taelor}} this troper]] saw this between Wolsey and Cromwell in ''Henry VIII''.
** In Henry V, iii, viii was listed in our S.M's script as "Big Gay Love Scene". And then there's iv, vi. An intimate scene between Exeter and Harry in which Exeter weeps as he relates to Harry Suffolk and York's "testament to noble-ending love". Harry also gives Exeter his coat at some point earlier on, I don't remember the scene.

** This is because in the original Iliad, Achilles and Patroclus were lovers, which was completely normal and accepted at the time. Most Greek men took a younger man 'under his wing' before he married.
*** Actually, it isn't certain in the Iliad whether they were lovers or not. There is no concrete evidence within the text that confirms that assumption. Aeschylus and Plato both assumed that they were lovers, though Plato disagreed with Aeschylus on who was the ''erastes'' and ''eromenos''. Shakespeare interprets them as lovers, but that is his own opinion, not necessarily the truth. This is probably the ultimate case of {{Ho Yay}} in the entirety of Shakespeare's work because the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is {{canon}} and not simply a fan interpretation.

* William "ZerothLawOfTropeExamples" {{Shakespeare}}. "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" wasn't written about a woman, you know.
** More Shakespeare: ''{{Hamlet}}'' and Horatio. Horatio is Hamlet's close friend, confidant and ultimatly the only one Hamlet really trusts throughout, and 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 Brahe and Kepler.
** Wouldn't Kepler and Brahe be better under FoeYay?
*** Even more of note, the only reason Horatio doesn't kill himself is because Hamlet takes the poisoned goblet away and tells him not to. May I also direct your attention to act three, scene two, lines sixty-five to seventy-six (3:2:65-76), or thereabout depending on your edition? I lack my copy so I can't quote it here, but if that's not Hoyay fuel, I don't know what is.
*** Are you referring to this?

*** Well, sort of. It's a bit further along in Hamlet's monologue.

** Speaking of Hamlet, he mentions kissing Yorick in [[AlasPoorYorick that famous scene]]. Could be platonic, but he specifically mentions kissing Yorick's ''lips''.
*** Depending on how you look at it, the fact that Hamlet was a ''child'' when Yorick was still alive could make this [[NotWhatItLooksLike better]] or [[LittleKidLover worse]].
*** If we trust the Gravedigger's memory, Hamlet is thirty at the time of the play, and Yorick has been dead twenty-three years. This makes Hamlet, at most, seven when the aforementioned kissing occurred. Probably not creepy.
** What, no love for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? They're practically canon. It only gets worse (or better, YourMileageMayVary) when [[RosencrantzandGuildensternAreDead Tom Stoppard]] gets his hands on them.
* Several of his plays also have a male character wooing a female character who is [[RecursiveCrossdressing both ''played'' by a man and ''disguised'' as a man]]. End result: Two men on stage making out. ThatOtherWiki suggests that it might have been a [[OlderThanSteam very early]] form of {{Fanservice}}.
** Ironically, even when the typical interest ratios of a modern theatre troupe don't require trouser roles, plays like ''Twelfth Night'' today end in scenes of two ''women'' making out.
*** Actually, female roles were usually played by young boys before puberty, as their voices haven't dropped. So all those romance scenes actually ended up with men making out with little boys. Again, YourMileageMayVary on whether this is hilarious or not.
*** Not necessarily LITTLE boys. Records at the Chapel Royal boys' choir show that boys' voices changed later than they do today. Some young men were still singing soprano at eighteen. (And castration of boy sopranos was never a widespread practice in England as it was on the Continent.)
*** By modern standards, it's indeed laughable that their practice was considered more proper. Well, we can't have '''women''' on the stage. Intimations of pederasty? That's OK. (I'm guessing women were regarded as corruptible, whereas males of '''any''' age were regarded as already corrupt.)
**** Actually, it was the opposite- women were regarded as sex maniacs, when they weren't being incurable gossipers.
** Some critics have suggested that Antonio from ''The Merchant of Venice'' (the only male protagonist with no female love interest) has an unrequited crush on his friend Bassanio.
*** That's a totally 'chaste' kiss in the 2004 film version, by the way. Even though the one of them closes his eyes, like he was ''totally expecting it''.
**** The actual kiss being preceeded, even, by Bassanio tenderly cupping Antonio's cheek for along moment before going for the lips. Yupp, chaste!
**** Not to mention how Antonio chastely lures Bassanio into, if I remember correctly, chastely removing his jacket and climbing onto the bed with him to chastely suck his face off.
*** It's pretty obvious that Bassanio is only marrying Portia for her money. Bassanio also intends to bring Antonio along on their honeymoon, calls Antonio "my sweet" four times, and spends four days "feasting" with Antonio - nice euphemism - before showing up at Belmont. Unrequited, you say?
*** In the court scene where Shylock is bent on digging out Antonio's flesh and won't relent to any pleas for mercy, Bassanio blatantly says that though he loves his wife, he would willingly trade her to save Antonio. Make of that what you will...
** C'mon! I mean, what sane guy will risk having his flesh carved out just to help a ''friend'' who's run out of cash and wasted all the borrowed money ''as well''. Somehow, I think Antonio wasn't that generous with all his other ''friends'' or it would be a miracle how he managed to run a business!
*** He also says something to Bassanio when he comes to ask for money that can roughly be summarised as "My purse and my heart are always open to you''.
** And Antonio from ''Twelfth Night'' 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!
*** Please note that in Shakespeare's time, the name "Antonio" was associated with gay men. So it's pretty much canon that both Antonios are gay. Hurray for Shakespeare!
*** This Troper worked on a high school production of Twelfth Night (as a sound person) and a lot of the male roles (Antontio, Feste, Fabio, etc) were played by girls, so the Ho yay tension really came clear, albeit in an heterosexual form.
** This troper participated in what was basically a Shakespeare convention last year. Due to mostly-female casts and an attempt to avoid confusion by in-show crossdressing in both plays, both Antonios became Antonias. Both came off 100% as unrequited crushes, as the above troper mentioned.
*** Not to mention that it's hard not to think of swapping possibilities among Orsino/Viola/Olivia/Sebastian, even after the MistakenIdentity is cleared up...
** This troper tends to find that the Romeo/Mercutio subtext distracts her from the Romeo/Juliet text. This was taken to extreme levels in the quasi-modern Luhrmann version, which portrays Mercutio as a CampGay.
*** Hell, it was pretty blatant in the Franco Zeffirelli version as well. They're about two inches away from each other during the Queen Mab speech. This may have been intentional, given Zeferelli's inclinations.
*** Though, with Romeo's pining for Rosalind and then (supposedly) more mature pining for Juliet, it's very likely that much of it could have been unrequited.
*** It's also fair to note the Mercutio/Benvolio subtext.
*** What, no love for Romeo/Tybalt? "Love thee better than thou canst devise"?
** And we shouldn't forget ''JuliusCaesar''. The characters seem to love each other more than their wives.
*** TruthInTelevision there. Eminent Romans didn't marry for love, and a man who loved his wife was considered somewhat ridiculous.
*** This troper participated in a table read of ''JuliusCaesar'', and after we'd finished reading IV.ii (Or: the scene where Cassius and Brutus basically have the rhetorical equivalent of makeup sex), the guy reading Brutus said something along the lines of "that was gayer than I remember".

** Not to mention {{Othello}}, which has one scene where Iago convinces Othello Cassio's having an affair with his wife by making up a story that he was practically molested by Cassio in his sleep, thinking Iago was Desdemona. ''In detail''. Even more so, the play's "climax" (by the Elizabethan definition, i.e., the midpoint) is a vow of fealty between Othello and Iago eerily reminiscent of a marriage.
*** Maybe there's a reason Othello was such an awkward play for this troper to watch with her dad...

I FastEddie am a doucebag



* And let's not forget William "ZerothLawOfTropeExamples" {{Shakespeare}}. "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" wasn't written about a woman, you know.

*** Please note that in Shakespeare's time, the name "Antonio" was associated with gay men. So it's pretty much canon that both Antonios are gay. Hurry for Shakespeare!

** Several of his plays also have a male character wooing a female character who is [[RecursiveCrossdressing both ''played'' by a man and ''disguised'' as a man]]. End result: Two men on stage making out. ThatOtherWiki suggests that it might have been a [[OlderThanSteam very early]] form of {{Fanservice}}.
*** Ironically, even when the typical interest ratios of a modern theatre troupe don't require trouser roles, plays like ''Twelfth Night'' today end in scenes of two ''women'' making out.