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The Dark Lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Twenty-four of William Shakespeare's sonnets refer to an unknown woman known only as the "Dark Lady." The playwright never reveals who she is, it's evident to the reader that this mysterious woman possesses dark features. The dramatic power between this person and Shakespeare makes people realize that he had to have been talking about a real person and this could not have been make believe. They had an unusual friendship between one another and were attracted to each other. It's believed by many literary scholars that the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets is based on either Emilia Lanier or Mary Fitton. The love between Shakespeare and the Dark Lady reveals how close they were to one another and feelings they shared together. For instance, "When the sonnet introduces the so-called "Dark Lady," the narrative becomes one of painful and destructive jealousy  ("William Shakespeare ). It seems as if he would like to be with the Dark Lady rather than his wife, Anne Hathaway but knows he could not be due to the time period and classical elegance these people, in this time period had to follow. Emilia Lanier was "born in 1570  (Love). She was around at the time of Shakespeare's sonnets. She had dark features because she was Italian and Jewish. She was a gorgeous woman who attracted many men; therefore, she would have been attractive to Shakespeare (Love). Her dad was a musician and worked for King Henry VIII, which means that she was around nobility, the same people Shakespeare would have been associated with. Emilia would have been close to Shakespeare a lot because she was a very promiscuous girl who had an affair with Lord Hundson, who was Shakespeare's chief patron (Love). She spent quite a bit of time around people of nobility. Emilia also had an affair with Simon Foreman, one of Shakespeare's good friends. Knowing this man shows how close Emilia really was to Shakespeare because Foreman knew Shakespeare very well. Shakespeare was ve

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