The Portrait of Mr. W. H.

It is based on a theory, originated by Thomas Tyrwhitt, that the sonnets were addressed to one Willie Hughes, portrayed in the story as a boy actor who specialized in playing women in Shakespeare's company.

[3] Wilde's story is narrated by a friend of a man called Erskine, who is preoccupied by the Hughes theory.

Erskine is convinced by this evidence, but then discovers the portrait to be a fake, a discovery that leads him to yet again doubt the existence of Willie Hughes.

Erskine sends him a letter, in which he tells him that the truth is in front of him and, as a sign of complete faith in it, is now twice stained with blood.

[3] Wilde's story may have been an influence on John Masefield, whose book Shakespeare and Spiritual Life (1924) suggests that the Fair Youth was an actor who was delicate and small enough to play parts such as the boy-servant Moth in Love's Labours Lost and the sprite Ariel in The Tempest.

[6] In G. S. Viereck's novel My First Two Thousand Years, the protagonist, the Wandering Jew, watches a performance given by Willie Hughes, who is "positively enchanting as Juliet".

He learns that Shakespeare had dedicated his sonnets to the boy-actor, but when he meets him he discovers that the boy is actually a girl in disguise.