Shakespeare’s Double-Dealing Comedies

Book excerpt: Are some of Shakespeare’s romantic storybook heroines actually emoting sexually obscene (but very funny) lines? {“Sexual quibbles (puns, play-on words), covertly uttered by precious-and-pure heroines, call for an immediate revision of viewpoint.”} When Fernando (The Tempest) is described as bravely swimming for shore “in lusty stroke”, would he be disqualified for doing this in Olympic competition? Before the walls of Harfleur, when Henry V threatens to “mow like grass your fresh-fair virgins” and have “your naked infants spitted upon pikes”, is he (and by inference his creator) barbarous? Or is he doing an hilarious comic imitation of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine before the walls of Damascus? {“There exists an interesting Marlovian source for the Tamburlaine protagonist himself—Ivan the Terrible. He proposed marriage to Queen Elizabeth, who tactfully turned him down.”} Rule Number 1: If a good writer seems surprisingly inept and has been known to be a wit or humorist, suspect parody or satire. Well, esteemed readers, you decide where to place your bets. On the critics? Or on William Shakespeare?