Sexual Morality

Shakespeare's plays include elements of appropriate or inappropriate sexuality. Christians might be uneasy with some of these story lines, and feel that the overall body of Shakespeare's work sends mixed messages as to sexual morality.

One generalization I would offer is that Shakespeare sometimes implies a distinction between upper class characters and commoners with higher standards expected of the former, while lower standards for the latter might be assumed.

The exceptions among the upper class are treated as serious matters, often with weighty consequences. Hamlet takes his royal mother bitterly to task for her adulterous (by his society's standards) marriage to her brother-in-law (III.4.19-106). Juliet (III.5.216-255 and IV.1.51-90) is desperate to avoid violating her marriage as she has been advised to do by her nurse.

Even false accusations of fornication among the upper class are extremely serious when believed, whether in Shakespeare's comedies (Much Ado about Nothing IV.1.81-210) or tragedies (Othello IV.2.37-105). Yet in Much Ado, Borachio and Margaret seem to have something going on (II.2.12-49), as do Cassio and Bianca in Othello (IV.1.123-158), but these liaisons between commoners are treated as normal. Measure for Measure (the only Shakespeare play named from a verse of scripture, Matt. 7:2) deals with fornication and hypocrisy via a unique plot line in which the premature sexual union of a "nearlywed" couple is regarded as a mitigated sin in contrast with the immeasurably worse intentions of Angelo, the city's interim ruler.

All's Well that Ends Well offers another unique story in which a young nobleman brushes the boundaries of adultery. See my post on that play describing the two buffers between Shakespeare's general rule about sexual misconduct by the high-born and what actually happens. First, Bertram has already despairingly given up his title and considers himself ruined, virtually a dead man. Second, he never actually commits adultery although he fully intends to and just as fully believes he has! In the same play, notice the frequent words in praise of virginity and chastity. See also the modest propriety of Hermia, another nearlywed, under tempting circumstances in Midsummer Night's Dream (II.2.41-70).