DarkLady5

WHO IS THE DARK LADY? WHAT ARE THE MAJOR THEORIES BEHIND THE IDENTITY OF THE DARK LADY, IF SHE REALLY EXISTED? Answer prepared by: Harriette H ** The ‘Dark Lady’ is a popular mystery; no one knows her real identity. Sonnets 127-154 are addressed to the ‘Dark Lady,’ a woman described of having deep brown hair and skin, hence the name, the ‘Dark Lady’ (Boyce, author of Shakespeare, 608). She is described as having dark morals of betrayal towards the poet’s love by loving another man (Boyce 608). The poet complains not only about his wife being unfaithful, but of her being unfaithful with his friend, leaving the poet with a loss of two loves (Boyce 608). This is shown from 144- “two loves I hate, of comfort and despair.” This is saying that the poet is torn between his friend and the ‘Dark Lady,’ (Wells, author of //__Shakespeare: For all Time__//, 86). Lastly, people believe that the characters represent real people because the sonnets are so convincing (Boyce 608).There is no real evidence that the ‘Dark Lady’ exists, so people just believe their theories.

There are many theories to who the mystifying and unknown ‘Dark Lady’ may be. Some believe that she could be the poet, Emilia Lanier, or the former mistress of the Lord Chamberlains’ Men, Mary Fitton (Greenblatt, author of //__Will in the world: how Shakespeare became Shakespeare__//, 233). Others suggest that because of her dark skin, she must be from an African descent, or because of her dark hair she could be Hermia from //A Midsummer Night’s Dream//. However, many people come to believe that she represents no one; they don’t take her as literally a dark lady (Greenblatt 233.) Overall the identity of the ‘Dark Lady’ is not known.

The most common conclusion is a theory about Shakespeare. Some come to believe that Shakespeare is homosexual (Boyce 608.) One way that homosexual was theorized was through the poet referring to his friend as his ‘lover.’ The downfall is that ‘lover’ can mean many things. For example, ‘lover’ was a synonym for ‘friend,’ (Boyce 608). Another way this was thought up was from 144, “Two lovers I hate, of comfort and despair.” This shows that he was torn between a man and a woman (Wells 86). Unfortunately, there is still no absolute evidence to Shakespeare being homosexual, keeping this simply a theory. A book of Shakespeare's sonnets in which the Dark Lady was written about.

A book of the peoms of Shakspeare's Dark Lady.

Hermia, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, one theory of who the Dark Lady may be.

1. Boyce, Charles. //Shakespeare//. 2nd ed. 5 volumes. New York, New York: Dell Publishing, 1990. Print.
 * Works Cited **

2. Greenblatt, Stephen. //Will in the world: how Shakespeare became Shakespeare//. 1st ed. 9 volumes. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. Print.

3. Wells, Stanley. //Shakespeare: for all time//. 2nd ed. 9 volumes. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003. Print.