The complex and sometimes contradictory expressions of love in Shakespeare's works—ranging from the serious to the absurd and back again—arise primarily from his dramatic and theatrical flair rather than from a unified philosophy of love. Untangling his witty, bawdy (and ambiguous) treatment of love, sex, and desire requires a sharp eye and a steady hand. In Shakespeare on Love and Lust, noted scholar Maurice Charney delves deeply into Shakespeare's rhetorical and thematic development of this largest of subjects to reveal what makes his plays and poems resonate with contemporary audiences. The paradigmatic star-crossed lovers of Romeo and Juliet, the comic confusions of couples wandering through the wood in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello's tragic jealousy, the homoerotic ways Shakespeare played with cross-dressing on the Elizabethan stage—Charney explores the world in which Shakespeare lived, and how it is reflected and transformed in the one he created. While focusing primarily on desire between young lovers, Charney also explores themes of love in marriage (Brutus and Portia) and in same-sex pairings (Antonio and Sebastian). Against the conventions of Renaissance literature, Shakespeare qualified the Platonic view that true love transcends the physical. Instead, as Charney demonstrates, love in Shakespeare's work is almost always sexual as well as spiritual, and the full range of desire's dramatic possibilities is displayed. Shakespeare on Love and Lust begins by considering the ways in which Shakespeare drew upon and satirized the conventions of Petrarchan Renaissance love poetry in plays like Romeo and Juliet, then explores how courtship is woven into the basic plot formula of the comedies. Next, Charney examines love in the tragedies and the enemies of love (Iago, for example). Later chapters cover the gender complications in such plays as Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew as well as the homoerotic themes woven into many of the poems and plays. Charney concludes with a lively discussion of paradoxes and ambivalences about love expressed by Shakespeare's word play and sexual innuendoes.

My poetry and short stories will take you on a journey and give you a brief look into my life. Everything I write is from the heart and is inspired by personal experiences. Love speaks of the love that has filled my heart. Lust speaks of the many temptations, seductions, and emotions that stimulate the body. And loss speaks of the hurt that can be brought on by love or feelings of lack thereof. The short stories of passion allowed me to delve into my creative side. The many days I sat daydreaming and wondering what if are now out of my head and on paper. Often we fantasize but we keep our fantasies to ourselves. This allows me to explore those passions outside of a mere daydream. Love, Lust, and Loss reflects life experiences and everything in between. My book takes a look into every aspect of every emotion that love and loss of love elicits. I hope that what I write inspires you to feel something youve never felt, reminds you of a love from your past, present, or future, and allows you to see that you are not alone in your emotions.

How does Shakespeare's treatment of human sexuality relate to the sexual conventions and language of his times? Pre-eminent Shakespearean critic Stanley Wells draws on historical and anecdotal sources to present an illuminating account of sexual behaviour in Shakespeare's time, particularly in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. He demonstrates what we know or can deduce of the sex lives of Shakespeare and members of his family. He also provides a fascinating account of depictions ofsexuality in the poetry of the period and suggests that at the time Shakespeare was writing most of his non-dramatic verse a group of poets catered especially for readers with homoerotic tastes.The second part of Shakespeare, Sex, - and Love focuses on the variety of ways in which Shakespeare treats sexuality in his plays and at how he relates sexuality to love. Wells shows that Shakespeare's attitude to sex developed over the course of his writing career, and devotes whole chapters to 'The Fun of Sex' - to how he raises laughter out of the matter of sex in both the language and the plotting of some of his comedies; portrayals of sexual desire; to Romeo and Julietas the play in which Shakespeare focuses most centrally on issues relating to sex, love, and the relationship between them; to sexual jealousy, traced through four major plays; 'Sexual Experience'; and 'Whores and Saints'. A final chapter, 'Just Good Friends' examines Shakespeare's rendering of same-genderrelationships.

Comprehensive study of the concept of love in Shakespeare's work, exploring historical contexts, theory and philosophy of love.

An anthology of Khushwant Singh’s best writings on his favorite subjects, Women, Sex, Love and Lust is at once witty, informative, thought-provoking and flagrant. Definitely a book you can’t afford to miss! If you are looking for answers to eternal questions like which came first – love or lust, or debates pertaining to celibacy, chastity or arranged marriages, Khushwant Singh delivers his unique exposé. Whether he is analysing the fine dividing line between obscenity, pornography and erotica, describing sex from ‘Chaturbhani’ (200-350 B.C.) or his ideas of a composite Indian woman, Khushwant holds the reader’s attention effortlessly. But that isn’t all – years before terms such as ‘gender issues’ or ‘gender divide’ became popular, he was writing, thinking and sharing his views on them. His deliberations reveal an unexpected side to Khushwant . . . in these pages you’ll also find a rare glimpse of Khushwant the feminist. Women, Sex, Love and Lust abounds with Indian as well as foreign myths, legends, proverbs, and poems ranging from Chaucer, Shakespeare, Whitman to Kalidas, Iqbal and Faiz. Almost each page offers you delectable quotes from Russell to Wodehouse along with special anecdotes which could only come from the inimitable Khushwant. Only he could share with you his intense experience of nudo-phobia suffered in Sweden, his acute observation of Indian whoremongers when abroad, scandals amongst the literati and glitterati – H. G. Wells as a compulsive fornicator or Georges Simenon hammering away at his typewriter (and his women) at the age of eighty are only a few revelations.

The tragedy of Romeo and juliet - the greatest love story ever.