AMBIGUOUS SHAKESPEARE

If Shakespeare has outlived immortality, there is also this question of authority that haunts the Critics. On the other hand, we find it easy to take the fact for granted,that in case of this particular guy, who is nothing but an honorable legend to the field of literature, it's of no use questioning, and there are things we actually need to accept in a blind manner- the clash between reason and belief, and the winner is belief, for there is no reason enough that can prove the rumors true. And of course the "Ambiguity" that the lectures and books talk of is a matter of fact : The sonnets, first published in 1609 are example enough; the ambiguity prevails through the entire sequence right from the "Dedication of the Sonnets"- dedicated by T.T. i.e., Thomas Thorpe, (The printer/publisher) to the mysterious W.H. who could be the Earl of Pembroke or the Earl of Southampton or any other anonymous fellow. The question is- if it really could be any of the Earls, had it not been deeply disrespectful for the Earl, whosoever, that he, who is meant to be referred to as "his highness" and the like, is referred to simply as W.H.? (Mind you, it was no light issue at all for the Earl is supposed to be at the top level of Aristocracy). Was it done to save the Earl from infamy of homosexuality?

There was also every possibility that the arrangements of the Sonnets were not done by Shakespeare himself, or perhaps they were even published without his knowledge when he was away, as doubted by the scholarships. These Sonnets are disorganized and do not tell us a consistent story. moreover, newer scholarships argue that these sonnets are so deeply embedded in personal meaning and are so highly double-edged that some of his sonnets will seldom be understood. Many say that the Dark Lady and the Fair Youth are simply unproven assertions. The relationships hence pointed out can be absolutely fictitious too. 

Whatsoever it is, but if Shakespeare had intentionally meant to have this air of ambiguity in his sonnets, and if he really aimed at not having people to understand them, then there could be no doubt about the achievement in his motive. There is so much to say and hear about Shakespeare that anything said or heard and written or read is incomplete, and hence there could be no end to it. One may not have heard of many other great literary personas, but rarely will we find anybody that denies having heard of Shakespeare : hence, the point of his outliving immortality.