Homo-shakes-ual Themes : As You Like It

In the play As You Like It, as with many of the Bard's works, there seem to be a lot of themes that relate to homosexuality, from the suspiciously close friendship between Rosalind and Celia, to Orlando's excessive interest in the "pretend" courting with Ganymede. In this post, we'll be exploring the different references and the possible connections to Shakespeare's life. 

Pardon the title, by the way. It's a really a terrible pun, but I couldn't help myself.

Now before anyone gets worked up, let me make it clear from the get-go that I am neither defending/endorsing homosexuality, nor attacking it.

Anyway.

I've been noticing in my reading a common theme of  homosexuality. First, in the choice of the name for Rosalind's male alter-ego (Ah yes, back to names again.)
She chooses to call herself "Ganymede". Long story short, Ganymede is derived from Greek mythology, and, as would have been well known to the Elizabethan's, is a symbol of homosexuality and divine beauty.

On top of that, "Ganymede" is being pursued by Phoebe, another female, who falls madly in love with him (her?) while completely ignoring the man who loves her, Silvius.
Not to mention, Orlando seems to enjoy the instruction of "wooing Rosalind" that he is receiving from "Ganymede" a little too much.

To add one more layer of gender-confusion to this. . .remember that in Shakespeare's day, women weren't allowed on the stage. So it would have gone something like this.

A young, feminine boy, dressed as a woman (which is what his character is "truly" supposed to be), then disguises "herself" as a man and sort of flirts around with another man, while being pursued by a woman. . .and in the end reveals herself (himself?) to really be a woman. Even though. . . it was really a boy. . .Okay, now I've even lost myself.

The last sort of reference to homosexuality in this play, according to some of my research, is the relationship between Celia and Rosalind. Are they a little too close it seems sometimes? Maybe. I kinda shook it off when Celia said that they "sleep together" figuring she meant it in the most literal and innocent way possible. I haven't decided yet if their relationship was really more than what was on the surface, or if that was just the opinion of the writer of the "themes and motifs" section of Sparknotes.


These led me to ask a few questions. Why was Shakespeare bringing up all of these (awkward) themes? Was it to promote or celebrate homosexuality, and, if so, did he himself have such relationships? I have heard rumors of such things before, so I did some brief research on it but came up with few answers.





The Article from Wikipedia says:
"Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. At 18, he married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant. Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May 1583. However, over the centuries readers have pointed to Shakespeare's sonnets as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than sexual love.^[181] At the same time, the 26 so-called "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a married woman, are taken as evidence of heterosexual liaisons."