Bertram, the Third Earl of Southampton, and Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well: A Speculative Psychosexual Biography

Author: Hunt, Maurice

Source: Exemplaria, Volume 21, Number 3, Fall 2009 , pp. 319-342(24)

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Abstract:

The resemblance between certain character traits and details of the life of Henry Wriothesley, the Third Earl of Southampton, and aspects of Shakespeare's portrayal of Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well is more intriguing than commentators noting this resemblance have shown. By darkening Bertram's traits in comparison to those of his counterpart, Beltramo, in the play's source in a tale in Boccaccio's Decameron, Shakespeare darkened the similar character of Southampton. Certain passages in Shakespeare's Sonnets and in plays such as King Lear, Macbeth, and The Winter's Tale illuminate this hypothesized negative perspective on the Earl. Tracing these references constructs a speculative psychosexual biography of Shakespeare, in which Southampton plays a role that complicates interpretation not only of Bertram's character but also of the notorious bed trick of All's Well with its implications of spiritual — if not literal — adultery. The unique representation of the bed trick in this dark comedy may have served a momentary purpose of assuaging the playwright's assumed guilt for having likely committed the sin of adultery recorded in the Sonnets.

Keywords: PSYCHOSEXUAL BIOGRAPHY; ADULTERY; ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL; SONNETS; SHAKESPEARE; BED TRICK; EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/175330709X449071

Affiliations: Baylor University

Publication date: 2009-09-01

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