8-2DarkLady

Who is the Dark Lady? //Answer Prepared by Lexi M//  There has been a lot of speculation over the subject of the Dark Lady. The Dark Lady appears in around twenty four of Shakespeare’s sonnets. No one is for sure who this Dark Lady is. It’s a mystery what her identity is. This Dark Lady is said to have dark hair and dark skin, which is where the name Dark Lady derived from. Sonnets number 127-152 have to do with the subject of the Dark Lady. Supposedly, the Dark Lady is Shakespeare’s mysterious mistress. There are a few ideas of who this lady might be. They are  Mary Fitton and Emilia Lanier. Emilia Lanier was the first Englishwoman to assert herself as a professional poet. Mary Fitton was a maid of Honor to Queen Elizabeth the first and also a mistress of William Herbert. William Herbert was a friend of the Shakespeare family. William’s mother hired Shakespeare to write William romantic sonnets for his birthday to get William in the romantic mindset, so William would find a wife and get married. Little did William’s mother know that both William and Shakespeare were said to be in an affair with Mary Fitton.

Emilia Lanier’s exotic look and sultry behavior grabbed the attention of Queen Elizabeth the First according to Shakespeare Online. ( Mabillard, Amanda. "Sonnets and Poems." Shakespeare Online. 29 JULY 2003. Shakespeare Online . 8 Mar 2009 .) Emilia began to be apart of Elizabeth’s inner circle, meaning that Shakespeare and Emilia had the same friends and hung out with the same people. She was in his writers circle so they were familiar with one and other. Emilia had a dark complexion and dark skin and was in Shakespeare’s inner circle. She is a strong candidate for the Dark Lady. Shakespeare being all on his own away from his wife obviously took notice of Emilia’s striking beauty. Of course Emilia would be interested in Shakespeare also because he was up and coming and definitely headed places. Since she was apart of Shakespeare’s inner circle- it was very unlikely that there was another Dark Lady with dark skin and dark hair with strikingly good looks that was in his inner circle. According to Who Was Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’”. ( Unknown, Author. "Who was Shakespeare's 'Dark Lady' ." Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. 2009. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. 8 Mar 2009 [])  It had to have been Emilia right?

Mary Fitton’s wild behavior definitely could have attracted the attention of Shakespeare. Mary was William Herbert’s mistress. They had an affair and Mary got pregnant. William refused to marry her so Queen Elizabeth the First threw him in jail. Some people believe that the sonnets that Shakespeare wrote were actually written in William Herbert’s perspective for his love of Mary. In other words, people believed that Shakespeare wrote his sonnets about Mary and William’s love and pretended that he was in William’s shoes. Some people disagree with those two theories entirely also. Researchers believe that the Dark Lady is not an actual lady and just an abstract idea that Shakespeare came up with. His sonnets don’t necessarily have to written about someone in particular, they could just be written about love in the abstract form. There are many theories on who the Dark Lady could be but one thing is for sure, it’s a mystery.

Works Cited Mabillard, Amanda. "Sonnets and Poems." __Shakespeare Online__ . 29 JULY 2003. Shakespeare Online. 8 Mar 2009 .

Unknown, Author. "Who was Shakespeare's 'Dark Lady' ." __Shakespeare Birthplace Trust__ <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. 2009. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. 8 Mar 2009 <http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/content/view/631/623/>. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vision, Maya. "Emilia Lanier (the Dark Lady?)." <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">__The Investigation: PBS__ <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. 2003. PBS Home Programs. 8 Mar 2009 <http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/players/player34.html>. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

media type="youtube" key="cw6Swr-ME40" height="344" width="425"