History HoYay / WilliamShakespeare

’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.

** 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...

* William "ZerothLawOfTropeExamples" {{Shakespeare}}. "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" wasn't written about a woman, you know. Several of his plays also 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. ThatOtherWiki suggests that it might have been a [[OlderThanSteam very early]] form of {{Fanservice}}.

* And we shouldn't forget ''JuliusCaesar''. The characters seem to love each other more than their wives.

** It's also fair to note the Mercutio/Benvolio subtext.

-->O my dear lord—

* ''{{Hamlet}}'' and Horatio. Horatio is Hamlet's close friend, confidant and ultimately 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]].

* Some critics have suggested that Antonio from ''TheMerchantOfVenice'' (the only male protagonist with no female love interest) has an unrequited crush on his friend Bassanio.

* 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").

** Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They're practically canon. It only gets worse (or better, YourMileageMayVary) when [[RosencrantzandGuildensternAreDead Tom Stoppard]] gets his hands on them.

--> HAMLET

-->As e'er my conversation coped withal.

-->Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been

-->Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blest are those

-->That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
-->In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,

** This troper once saw a production where Horatio was played by a woman (but was still referred to as a man and with male pronouns). The director apparently took this as an excuse to make the HoYay [[OfficialCouple canon]]. Nary a moment were the two onstage together that they weren't touching.
** This troper saw a production where Horatio, never mind being played by a woman, was a woman. Who had a crush on Hamlet.
** Hamlet also 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 worse.

** 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.

*** Also note that "purse" was a vaginal euphemism.

* And Antonio from ''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!

** It's also fair to note the Mercutio/Benvolio subtext.

** TruthInTelevision there. Eminent Romans didn't marry for love, and a man who loved his wife was considered somewhat ridiculous.

* {{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, when they shared a bed and Cassio in his sleep thought 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.

*** Speaking of Midsummer, ''someone'' has to have speculated about Oberon and Puck. And while we're at it, Titania and her now deceased handmaiden, who birthed the human child that provokes the fight between the two of them.
*** This troper's representation of A Midsummer Night's Dream featured a RunningGag of Titania asking her husband exactly ''why'' he wanted her ward so much that he was fighting with her over him. It included a lot of pointing out just how hot the actress looked in her Stripperiffic costume.
* 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.

** 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.

* 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 ''AsYouLikeIt''. And "But yet I cannot love him" Olivia in Twelfth Night. Once you start looking, the LesYay is everywhere!

*** Speaking of Midsummer, ''someone'' has to have speculated about Oberon and Puck.

* This troper's representation of A Midsummer Night's Dream featured a RunningGag of Titania asking her husband exactly ''why'' he wanted her ward so much that he was fighting with her over him. It included a lot of pointing out just how hot the actress looked in her Stripperiffic costume.

** Hamlet also 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]].

* In ''{{Troilus and Cressida}}'', there are multiple hints at Achilles and Patroclus being in a sexual relationship. They always enter and exit scenes together, share a tent, and Achilles even mentioned that "Of this my privacy I have strong reasons" when Ulysses mentions him staying in his tent instead of fighting. There is a direct reference to a sexual relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in this exchange between Patroclus and Thersites:

* This troper's representation of A Midsummer Night's Dream featured a RunningGag of Titania asking her husband exactly ''why'' he wanted her ward so much that he was fighting with her over him. It included a lot of pointing out just how hot the actress looked in hr Stripperiffic costume.

* This troper's representation of A Midsummer Night's Dream featured a RunningGag of Titania asking her husband exactly ''why'' he wanted her ward so much that he was fighting with her over him. It included a lot of pointing out just how hot the actress looked in hr Stripperrific costume.

* {{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.

* 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''. And "But yet I cannot love him" Olivia in Twelfth Night. Once you start looking, the LesYay is everywhere!

* The Romeo/Mercutio subtext almost distracts from the Romeo/Juliet text. This is taken to extreme levels in the quasi-modern Luhrmann version, which portrays Mercutio as a CampGay.

* 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!

* Some critics have suggested that Antonio from ''TheMerchantofVenice'' (the only male protagonist with no female love interest) has an unrequited crush on his friend Bassanio.

* 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.