The Homoeroticism of Duke Vincentio: Some Feeling of the Sport: The Homoeroticism of Duke Vincentio: Some Feeling of the Sport

Carolyn E. Brown, University of San Francisco

Shakespeare's Measure for Measure has been a source of critical contention for centuries. Rosalind Miles, for example, claims that the play "holds today an unassailable position as chief 'problem'" among Shakespeare's plays that have been labeled as such.¹ David Lloyd Stevenson argues that part of the complexity and the discomfort of the play derives from Shakespeare's "forcing us to adjust to a level of apprehension of motives for human actions which lie far deeper than we are usually willing to go."² While all of the protagonists are psychologically intricate, it is the enigmatic Duke Vincentio whose motives require and yet seem to defy the deepest probing and who, consequently, has contributed to earning Measure for Measure the unenviable designation as the most outstanding problem play of Shakespeare. Don D. Moore claims that Duke Vincentio is "probably the most controversial Duke in all of Shakespeare."³ His governmental decisions and administration of justice evoke critical debate and consternation. But what is equally disturbing for critics is his sexual nature and the sexual nuances of his actions, which have resisted critical explanation.

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