Sexuality of William Shakespeare Sexuality of William Shakespeare The sexuality of William Shakespeare has been the subject of recurring debate. It is known from public records that he married Anne Hathaway and that they had three children; scholars have analysed their relationship through these documents, and particularly through the bequests to her in Shakespeare's will. Some have speculated Shakespeare had affairs with other women, based on contemporaries' written anecdotes of such affairs and sometimes on the "Dark Lady" figure in his sonnets. Some scholars have argued he was bisexual, based on analysis of the sonnets: many, including Sonnet 18 "Shall I compare thee to
Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) Hathaway on the day of her husband's funeral. Avril Rowland's "Mrs Shakespeare" (2005) depicts Anne as a multi-tasking "superwoman" who runs the home efficiently while also writing her husband's plays in a businesslike partnership with him as her promoter/performer. The romantic comedy film "Shakespeare in Love" provides an example of the negative view, depicting the marriage as a cold and loveless bond that Shakespeare must escape to find love in London. The same situation occurs in the alternate-history novel "Ruled Britannia" (2002), in which Shakespeare is finally granted a divorce from Hathaway to marry his new girlfriend after he helps