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Teo Gerard Emmanuel


Walter Philip Wadiak
HL1002: Survey of English Literature
8 November 2011
Winnowing the Will in William
It is challenging to contest the merits of the works of William Shakespeare;
particularly his sought after publication of 154 sonnets. This publication epitomises both a
mastery of form and an accuracy of portrayal. It has been subject to many a critic over time.
Kathryn Schwarz, on the one hand, in her article Will in Overplus: Recasting Misogyny in
Shakespeares Sonnets from ELH alleges that Shakespeares Sonnets deploy misogyny in a
way that demystifies its totalizing claims (Schwarz 738.38-39). Patrick Cruttwell, on the
other hand, in his article A Reading of the Sonnets from The Hudson Review alleges that
Shakespeares sonnets are to be regarded as personal and closely autobiographical
(Cruttwell 555.27) and as something outside his professional career (Cruttwell 555.39). He
further elaborates that they convey anger and disillusion with the state of society, disgust
with the whole business of love and sex (Cruttwell 555.21-23). Cruttwell also discusses the
portrayal of the climate of Renaissance homosexual feeling within Shakespeares sonnets.
The argument of this essay will parallel those of Cruttwell by examining one of
Shakespeares sonnets in particular, Sonnet 135.
Sonnet 135 of Shakespeares sonnets begins with the stanza Whoever hath her wish,
thou hast thy Will (Shakespeare 1075.1). Shakespeare uses two words, namely wish
(Shakespeare 1075.1) and Will (Shakespeare 1075.1) which are used synonymously within
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many contexts along with the assumption that the two words possess a shared definition. The
structure of the first stanza of Sonnet 135 however, presents evidence that the two words, at
least within the scope of this sonnet, do not possess a shared definition. More specifically,
Shakespeares decision to create two distinct binaries, namely her wish (Shakespeare
1075.1) and thy Will (Shakespeare 1075.1) in writing the first stanza of Sonnet 135
presents evidence that the two words do not possess a shared definition. Applying the
aforementioned assertion with regards to the words wish and will possessing distinctly
different definitions, The Little Oxford Dictionary relevantly defines the word wish as
desire or aspiration; request and the word will as the faculty by which one decides what
to do. Schwarz too agrees with the arguement that the two words do not possess a shared
definition in her assertion, Will is often taken as a synonym for intention, and often as a
synonym for desire; yet intention and desire bear an uneasy relationship to one another, and
the sonnet heightens that friction as it forces their convergence (Schwarz 737-738.30-33).
Also of pertinence, is Shakespeares decision, to use a gendered prefix namely her
(Shakespeare 1075.1) to the word wish, thereby enabling the assumption that the word
thy (Shakespeare 1075.1) in reference to the other is distinctly male, in writing the first
stanza of Sonnet 135. A close reading of the first stanza of Sonnet 135 presents an assertion
stating that in spite of the existence of desire[s] or aspiration[s] of women, there
inadvertently remains a faculty of choice for the man in question, as to whether or not to
yield to those desires and aspirations. I argue that the first stanza of Sonnet 135, in presenting
an assertion within which a gendered dichotomous model is utilized, exhibits a representation
of the implicit social grammar of the contexts within which Shakespeare resided and also a
critique of that social grammar. More specifically, the first stanza of Sonnet 135, represents
the explicit advocacy within Shakespeares social contexts of heterosexual relationships,
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sexual intercourse of men with women, and aspirations towards married life, as opposed to
bachelorhood and a homosexual life, the latter two being that which was condoned in
Shakespeares juxtaposition of a faculty of choice and freedom against the desire or
aspiration of the mainstream.
The word will was also a denotation of carnal desire within Shakespearean
contexts. Applying this definition of the word, will, Shakespeares decision to juxtapose
the words thy Will (Shakespeare 1075.1) against the words her wish (Shakespeare
1075.1) in writing the first stanza of Sonnet 135 can be interpreted as further evidence of
Shakespeares critique of married life and his justification of bachelorhood, sexual license
and the embracement of sexual desire. Shakespeares description of the sexual desires of men
existing in superfluous magnitudes in the second stanza of Sonnet 135, more specifically
when he writes Will in overplus (Shakespeare 1075.2) can also be interpreted as further
evidence of Shakespeares condonement of sexual license and the embracement of sexual
desire.
The word will possessed yet another denotation within Shakespearean contexts that
is the sexual organs. The application of this definition of the word will in reading the
fifth and sixth stanzas of Sonnet 135 presents an explicit description of sexual intercourse
between men and possibly evidence of Shakespeares own homosexual tendencies. The
question of Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious, Not once vouchsafe to hide my will
in thine? (Shakespeare 1075.5-6), whilst applying the aforementioned definition of the word
will can be interpreted as a proposal by Shakespeare to his male lover who possesses an
apparently large orifice to consider being on the receiving end of penetrative sexual
intercourse justifying how the presence of a large orifice would enable the ease of such
penetrative sexual intercourse or as a proposal by Shakespeare to his male lover to consider
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being on the receiving end of penetrative sexual intercourse, in spite of being endowed with a
large penis, which is often associated with being on the giving end of penetrative sexual
intercourse.
The seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth stanzas of Sonnet 135 present further evidence of
Shakespeares possibly homosexual tendencies. The question of Shall will in others seem
right gracious, And in my will no fair acceptance shine? (Shakespeare 1075.7-8) can be
interpreted as Shakespeares bemoaning of the impartial nature of the social grammar,
mentioned earlier in this essay, of the contexts within which he resided, in allowing the
public development of heterosexual unions eventually into marriages, as the words right
gracious (Shakespeare 1075.7) and fair acceptance (Shakespeare 1075.8) seem to imply
but disapproving of the public development of homosexual unions such as the one
constituting of him and his lover and even failing to recognize or admit that such unions
exist. The ninth and tenth stanzas of Sonnet 135 where Shakespeare writes, The sea, all
water, yet receives rain still And in abundance addeth to his store can be interpreted
allegorically as his lamentation of his lovers refusal to yield to his homosexual tendencies
and in doing so to yield to him, but instead deciding to contribute to the already plentiful
supply of heterosexual males, available to women, participating in their widely accepted
heterosexual unions.
In summary this essay has discussed and substantiated the argument that Sonnet 135
of Shakespeares sonnets represents the implicit social grammar of the contexts within
which Shakespeare resided, more specifically one which explicitly advocated heterosexual
relationships, sexual intercourse of men with women, and aspirations towards married life
and also a critique of that social grammar in the condoning of bachelorhood and a
homosexual life. It has done so by applying the various denotations of the word will, which
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is a material constituent of Sonnet 135, in interpreting the connotations of the stanzas in
Sonnet 135 some of which include explicit descriptions of sexual intercourse between men on
the one hand, and more emotional and confessional assertions to a male lover on the other. It
is important to note however, that although an ample amount of evidence regarding same-sex
unions, specifically between men and particularly involving himself, is presented within
many of Shakespeares sonnets, enabling readers to make biographical inferences with
regards to his sexual orientation; greater pertinence should be attributed to the accuracy and
artistry with which the circumstances surrounding these unions are portrayed. Shakespeares
sonnets stand testament to the old adage that some things never change and it is this
knowledge of our predecessors having endured adversities similar to those which we endure
within modernity, which enables an emancipation of sorts.










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Works Cited
Cruttwell, Patrick. "A Reading of the Sonnets." The Hudson Review Winter 5.4 (1953): 554-
70. JSTOR. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
Schwarz, Kathryn. "Will in Overplus: Recasting Misogyny in Shakespeares Sonnets." Elh
75.3 (2008): 737-66. Project MUSE. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.
Shakespeare, William. Sonnets. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th. 1. Ed.
Greenblatt, Stephen, M.H. Abrams, Carol T. Christ, Alfred David, Barbara K. Lewalski,
Lawrence Lipking, George M. Logan, Deidre Shauna Lynch, Katherine Eisaman Maus, and
James Noggle, Jahan Ramazani, Catherine Robson, James Simpson, Jon Stallworthy, Jack
Stillinger, E. Talbot Donaldson, Hallett Smith, Robert M. Adams, Samuel Holt Monk,
George H. Ford, David Daiches. New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company. 1075.
Print.










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