Never heard that one before. Normally when I hear of “historical outing”, I take it with a pound of salt, since a lot of if is just an extension of middle-school speculation. To evaluate such a thing long after the person’s dead, and in a completely different cultural context, you have to consider the person’s temperment and the mores of the time. There were LOTS of loveless marriages back then, and tons of people who felt closer to their friends of the same gender. Doesn’t mean something that looks slightly askew is a sign of a closeted homosexual. There’s sex drive, personality, personal ambition to consider. Not saying he’s not, I just always found it hard to really be convinced either way when evaluating a culture long past. I guess people (historians) who spend part of their time “living” back then would be the best to provide an assessment.
Some of the things the article cited are pretty suggestive, particularly his sleeping in the same bed with his close male friends; but I wonder if that used to be more common than it is now.
Exactly – resources were more at a premium then, and I think in general, people hung around each other a lot more than nowadays. What would be more valid would be to take some examples of known homosexuals from the time period (non-famous people), and compare their behavior with that of the person in question.
It was not at all uncommon to sleep in the same bed.
You can pick up a copy of Moby Dick, and I believe it references the main character having to share the bed with the pagan Quohog. But it was very common…
The poem would be the only thing to perhaps make a real solid claim, and even then i have to trust the commentator’s interpretation that certain things were sexual innuendo.
Never heard that one before. Normally when I hear of “historical outing”, I take it with a pound of salt, since a lot of if is just an extension of middle-school speculation. To evaluate such a thing long after the person’s dead, and in a completely different cultural context, you have to consider the person’s temperment and the mores of the time. There were LOTS of loveless marriages back then, and tons of people who felt closer to their friends of the same gender. Doesn’t mean something that looks slightly askew is a sign of a closeted homosexual. There’s sex drive, personality, personal ambition to consider. Not saying he’s not, I just always found it hard to really be convinced either way when evaluating a culture long past. I guess people (historians) who spend part of their time “living” back then would be the best to provide an assessment.
Indeed.
Some of the things the article cited are pretty suggestive, particularly his sleeping in the same bed with his close male friends; but I wonder if that used to be more common than it is now.
Exactly – resources were more at a premium then, and I think in general, people hung around each other a lot more than nowadays. What would be more valid would be to take some examples of known homosexuals from the time period (non-famous people), and compare their behavior with that of the person in question.
It was not at all uncommon to sleep in the same bed.
You can pick up a copy of Moby Dick, and I believe it references the main character having to share the bed with the pagan Quohog. But it was very common…
The poem would be the only thing to perhaps make a real solid claim, and even then i have to trust the commentator’s interpretation that certain things were sexual innuendo.
*shrug*