Truth and honesty are key elements to a good, healthy relationship. However, in Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, the key to a healthy relationship between the speaker and the Dark Lady is keeping up the lies they have constructed for one another. Through wordplay Shakespeare creates different levels of meaning, in doing this, he shows the nature of truth and flattery in relationships. Shakespeare's Sonnet 138 is one of his sonnets about the Dark Lady. Dark both in appearance, and in her actions, she is once again the subject of the sonnet. The speaker is the lover of the Dark Lady. Whether the speaker is married to her or not is not completely clear. Based on lines regarding age “...she knows my days are past the best” (6), it seems …show more content…
In the second quatrain, the speaker is talking more about growing old, and the fact that both of them are lying to each other. This quatrain confirms what is set up in the first quatrain, that she treats him like he is a younger man than he is. The line “Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young”(5) is the speaker telling us that he is tricking himself into believing that she thinks he is like a younger man. The speaker is not very confident at all. He lets his own vanity get in the way of the Dark Lady's infidelities. She tells him what he wants to hear even though she knows it's not true, as is evident when the speaker says “Although she knows my days are past the best”(6) and he gladly accepts these lies. With her accepting the lie that he is a younger man, in return, he must accept the lie that she is telling him. In the last line of the quatrain, the line “On both sides thus is a simple truth suppress'd”(8) says that both the speaker and the Dark Lady are ignoring reality in order to keep the status quo of their relationship. In order to feel better about themselves. In the last quatrain, the speaker seems to be justifying the mutual lying that is going on between the two. He starts by asking “why doesn't she just tell me she is unfaithful?” and “why don't I just admit I am old?”, but this turns out to be rhetorical
He concludes the poem by saying ‘The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori’ showing that he feels that his experiences are far from beautiful or even honourable.
“For That He Looked Not upon Her” is written in the form of an English sonnet which helps to illustrate the speaker’s desperation in a conversational tone. The first quatrain develops an idea that the speaker does not wish to look at a specific woman. The poem is consistent iambic pentameter throughout which makes it seem as though the speaker is conversing with the reader. This creates an ambiguous tone in the beginning, for the reader does not know why he will not look towards this woman. The third line states, “And that mine eyes take no delight to range” (3). By using the spondee of “mine eyes” the speaker puts an emphasis on his broken heartedness, therefore, answering the question as to why the speaker refuses to look her direction. The second quatrain then addresses that the speaker wishes to look at his lover but is afraid of the repercussions. In this quatrain Gascoigne creates a slant rhyme with the words “bait” and “deceit” to enact the speaker’s tone of distrust (6,8). The speaker fights against his inner
The diction used by the speaker illustrates the pain and misery he endures whenever he sees the “gleams” on her face (Line 4). As the speaker tries to avoid this woman’s beauty is forced by temptation to look upon her face and he is reminded of the same pain and misery he must avert. In the couplet of this English sonnet the speaker displays his method of avoiding his once beloved. The speaker claims, “so that I wink or else hold down my head, because your blazing eyes my bale have bred” (Lines 13-14). This significant quote from Gascoigne’s saddened and pain stricken speaker sheds light as to how and why he continuous tries to evade the source of his misery.
Inner conflicts often dictate what the narrator wants, but cannot have, which creates the overall attitude of the poem. The narrator struggles to look at this woman because his "eyes take no delight to range/ about the gleam which on your face do grow" (3-4). He is not able to look at her even though she is beautiful due to the heartbreak that she left him with. This attitude carries on throughout the poem where he acknowledges her beauty but is unwilling to be hurt by her again. He is in agony from the emotions that she inflicts, and the readers see his mental process of working through it as he comes to the conclusion that he will "wink or else hold down my head" because it is her eyes that cause his "bale" (14-15). His attitude changes from being at war with his inner feelings to being accepted to the fact that if he looks at her he will be in danger of being hurt a second time. The irony being applied shows how his conflicted attitude is made clear by acknowledging that he will not give in to his desire despite what his repressed emotions are saying. Irony can be highly influential in discovering the narrator's hidden agenda and purposes, and the words chosen to reveal these purposes have an impact on the overall attitude of a piece of
The poem’s structure as a sonnet allows the speaker’s feelings of distrust and heartache to gradually manifest themselves as the poem’s plot progresses. Each quatrain develops and intensifies the speaker’s misery, giving the reader a deeper insight into his convoluted emotions. In the first quatrain, the speaker advises his former partner to not be surprised when she “see[s] him holding [his] louring head so low” (2). His refusal to look at her not only highlights his unhappiness but also establishes the gloomy tone of the poem. The speaker then uses the second and third quatrains to justify his remoteness; he explains how he feels betrayed by her and reveals how his distrust has led him
There is a similar theme running through both of the poems, in which both mistresses are refusing to partake in sexual intercourse with both of the poets. The way in which both poets present their argument is quite
The poem is the "awareness"that the adult woman has, which does not impinge on the young man – perhaps an awareness that would be beneficial to Juliet: if she had known the consequences, or been aware of the potential consequences of her actions, would she have resisted fate and married Paris as her elders
For example, in the opening lines “when my love swears that she is made of truth/ I do believe her though I know she lies” the speaker is acknowledging the deceit and corruption in his relationship but seems to have accepted it (lines 1-2). There is this paradox of a statement of love to complete
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Tale of the Wife of Bath,” the Wife tells a story about a knight who rapes a maiden and is sentenced to death, unless he finds out what a woman desires most. He goes on a search, and hears many different opinions. Then, he comes across a hideous old woman who promises to tell him the answer as long as he does what she asks. He agrees, and tells the queen who grants him his freedom. The woman demands he marry her, which the knight desperately resists because of her physical ugliness. She tells him, “sir, you reprove me for age; but certainly…you nobles who are honorable say that one should honor an old person…” (237). She has pity on him, though, and gives him a choice: she will stay ugly but remain
In sonnet 95, the speaker depicts a paternal feeling while speaking to the addressee, where indeed the poet reminds his audience about way appearance can be so deceiving. The young man is relying on his good appearance to veil his sexual immorality. Being that he is handsome and attractive, people are reluctant to disapprove his behavior. In the first quadrant, the poet employs different stylistic devices, which include simile, as the young man is likened to a fragrant rose, and on the other hand, he is compared to a destructive worm, but all his dark side of life is hidden under his good looking and charming nature. What is important about this poem is the manner in which the speaker reminds the young man about his bad behavior and draws examples that makes him feel sorry about what he does behind his good-looking nature. By the use of diction, imagery, diction, images, metaphors and other figures of speech, such as tone of voice, allusions, syntax and structure of the speech, the speaker warns the young man against his sexual immorality, and reminds him that there are detrimental risks associated with his behavior if he does not change.
"Oh! What A Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice To Deceive" -Sir Walter Scott. Shakespeare is one of the most celebrated authors in history, weaving deception throughout his writings. As he wrote about love, deception was seen over and over within his pieces. An example of Shakespeare’s work is from Sonnet 138, “O, love's best habit is in seeming trust.” This sonnet was based around a man and his mistress. The man knows that she lies about being faithful, but he also is aware that they do it in order to protect each other and their relationship. Later in Sonnet 157, the audience sees the outcome of the deception in Sonnet 138, as they are told that the man and his mistress are no longer. In the story of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo quotes, “O, how may I call this lightning? O my love! My wife! Death, that hath suck’d the honey
The poem begins with a narrator describing her sorrow and suffering on her journey through life (TWL p.56 ll.1-5). She goes on to explain that the leader of her country has left his people (TWL p.56 l.6). The narrator is upset by this, and she searches for her only to find out that she can only see him if this is in secret (TWL p.56 ll.10-12). The audience finds out that the narrator’s leader is also her husband, and she does what she has to do to be with him again (TWL p.56 ll.14-15). After they get together once again, the narrator finds out that her husband isn’t the man he once was and sets her up “plotting murder” (TWL p.56 ll.18-20). She is then forced by her ex-husband to live in isolation by herself in under a tree in a cave (TWL p.56 ll. 27-28). The elegy ends with the narrator expressing her distaste for her ex-husband, and she hopes that he suffers the pain that she did for the rest of his life (TWL p.56 ll. 42-53). While the ending is distasteful, the wife playing the main character shows uniqueness for a poem written during the Old English era of literature (Johnson).
The speaker starts the first quatrain criticizing his ‘mistress’. He spends each line comparing her to something else. The first line is a simile “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun”, her eyes are most likely brown or dull, ordinary. The first line also follows the basic iambic pentameter form, in the masculine sense ending with a stressed syllable, “my MIStress EYES are NOthing LIKE the SUN”. In the second line there is a break from the norm, where instead of the usual iambic pentameter, the stress falls on the first syllable “COral”. The second line “Coral is far more red than her lips red” is suggesting that her lips are not red and that women’s lips who are bright
He accepts her essentially, because of her mediocracy. At times, he is outraged by her additional lovers, but he still is wrapped around her finger. He blames himself for staying with her even though the relationship is toxic and copes with her infidelity. Shakespeare turns the traditional feeling of a love sonnet to that of hatred, resentment, and lust. It seems more in line with the reality and harshness of falling in love, as opposed to the traditional googly-eyed admiration of a lover. Since Shakespeare avoids this fictional theme, he gives readers a good reason to believe his Sonnets may actually be true.
He starts of his poem by flattering her and making her feel adored and loved. Now that he has her attention, he suddenly transitions into telling her that her beauty is all she has, and over time it will fade and she will die. If he doesn't give up her virginity for him, then the worms will take it. He also mentions that if she does not have sex with him, his lust and sex life will end and turn to dust, as if that's her problem. To finish off, he gives his last lines of persuasion. In the third stanza, it is implied that he thinks his argument was successful, and goes back to complimenting her. The character is that breed of male that thinks their opinion on women is important, and constantly comments on what a woman should or should not do. The mistress should be able to do what she wants with her virginity. Whether she believes it's real and wants to preserve it for someone less desperate, or if she believes it is just a social construct and wants to have fun, a man's opinion on it is not important! No woman should have to tolerate the persistence of a man who only says what she wants to hear in order to have his way with her, especially after she has refused his