The Dark Lady: Shakespeare’s secret mistress

Anne Hathaway married William Shakespeare in 1582. She had three children with him: Hamnet, Sussana and Judith. When he died, he bequeathed her his guest’s bed, the ‘second best bed’, as he writes in his will. It seems this was a perfect marriage. However, she was not the only lover of Shakespeare. In Sonnets 127 to 152, Shakespeare addresses another woman, the dark lady, a beautiful woman with ‘raven black’ eyes, and black wiry hair. But who exactly was she? 

Sonnets 1 to 126 is for a young man, Mr WH, another mysterious figure who could be either William Herbert, the third Earl of Pembroke or possibly the Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley. These are profound passages, which often carry a moral undercurrent, telling the addressee to cherish youth and the future generations. These include sonnets such as ‘Sonnet 18’, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’, a passage celebrating the beauty of love and companionship, often read at weddings. However, when we reach Sonnet 127 there is a shift in tone. The opening line informs us there is a new figure entering into Shakespeare’s verse:

‘In the old age black was not counted fair’

We assume this means the lady he is referring to is a black woman, and her not being ‘counted’ as ‘fair’ is Shakespeare’s way hinting at the racial prejudices towards her, as ‘fairness’ was another word for ‘white’. The poem then goes on to criticise people who wear ‘Art’s false borrowed face’ (i.e. makeup). Shakespeare praises her for her natural complexion and declares ‘every tongue says beauty should look so’. This proto-black rights tone does not last for long, however. As the poems progress, a sense of pain and anger towards this woman perpetuates his verses. Sonnet 138 details her lying habits, in Sonnet 142, the lady cheats on him, and in Sonnet 147, he vitriolically scorns her. She is, according to him, ‘black as hell, as dark as night’, words which, for a 21st century reader, do not sit well.

Who is the ‘dark lady’?

There has been much speculation as to who this ‘dark lady’ is. Many scholars have carried out extensive research into her origins. There are four main contenders: Emilia Lainer, a Lord’s mistress; Black Luce, a prostitute who Shakespeare could have encountered on his first production of ‘Twelfth Night’; the wife of John Florio, an Italian linguist; or Mary Fitton, William Herbert’s, the aforementioned ‘Mr WH’s’, mistress. Despite not knowing who she is, there is no doubt this was a woman who had a remarkable influence over Shakespeare and his writing, whose presence has stood the test of time, and most likely will for decades to come.

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