Hanson E
English Department, Princeton University, NJ 08540.
J Homosex. 1992;23(1-2):135-51. doi: 10.1300/J082v23n01_07.
Despite his description of sodomy as a horrible crime that a king is "bound in conscience neuer to forgiue," James I pursued the affections of a string of young and handsome "favourites" on whom he lavished gifts, titles, and power. Relying on the evidence of the King's own letters and frank comments from his Puritan critics, most historians assume that his relations with some of these men were sexual. The King's friendship with Robert Carr (who was later made Earl of Somerset), coupled with his estrangement from Queen Anne, may have been an inspiration for at least two literary accounts of kingship confounded by sex: Lady Mary Wroth's Urania (1621) and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1608). Wroth describes a duke who is made politically vulnerable by his love for a young man that leaves him "issue-les." The rise and fall of this disloyal companion closely resembles that of Somerset and would seem to indicate Wroth's belief that the King's relationship with the Earl was sexual. Antony and Cleopatra is in many ways a reflection of Jacobean court extravagance and decadence. Cleopatra, despite her sex, seems to fill the same role in political and sexual scandal as did Somerset; and Antony's vacillation between pleasure and duty recalls a certain Renaissance discourse on sodomy and "kingcraft".
尽管詹姆斯一世将鸡奸描述为一种可怕的罪行，称国王“凭良心绝不能饶恕”，但他却追求一连串年轻英俊的“宠臣”，并对他们慷慨地赐予礼物、头衔和权力。依据国王自己信件中的证据以及清教徒批评者的坦率评论，大多数历史学家认为他与其中一些人的关系存在性方面的内容。国王与罗伯特·卡尔（后来被封为萨默塞特伯爵）的友谊，再加上他与安妮女王的疏远，可能至少为两部因性而混乱的关于君主制的文学作品提供了灵感：玛丽·沃思夫人的《乌拉尼亚》（1621年）和莎士比亚的《安东尼与克利奥帕特拉》（1608年）。沃思描述了一位公爵，他因对一个年轻人的爱而在政治上变得脆弱，这种爱使他“无后”。这位不忠同伴的兴衰与萨默塞特的经历极为相似，这似乎表明沃思认为国王与这位伯爵的关系存在性方面的内容。《安东尼与克利奥帕特拉》在许多方面反映了詹姆斯一世时期宫廷的奢华与颓废。克利奥帕特拉尽管身为女性，在政治和性丑闻中似乎扮演了与萨默塞特相同的角色；而安东尼在享乐与职责之间的摇摆让人想起某种关于鸡奸和“治国术”的文艺复兴时期的论述。
