A Midsummer Night's Dream By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s uses imagery and symbolism throughout this sonnet, the main image is the description of his mistress. This is done not only through sights; but objects; and color. The theme displays an understanding that true love is loving someone despite their imperfections. The title “My mistresses’ eyes are nothing like the sun” suggests that Shakespeare doesn’t see brightness in the eyes of his beloved, he uses imagery to evoke a vision of dullness in the mind of readers. Shakespeare uses symbolism while mocking the perception of beauty typically used by Elizabethan poets of the time. The Sun in reality, is a huge ball of fiery gas, which is not what Shakespeare and other poets are referencing when using the sun to describe something. This is where symbolism comes in, the sun rising represents living, the sun setting represents dying. The sun is also the most recurrent and predictable occurrence in the world, like clockwork the sun rises every day, makes it way from east to west until sunset. Further, there is a mystery about the sun we see it every day, all living things are affected by it, yet it is totally out of our reach.

Traditionally the rose is symbolic of love and beauty. The color of a rose can also be symbolic, red roses can symbolize romance or heat, while white roses can symbolize cleanliness or peace etc. Shakespeare writes “I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks.” Saying that her cheeks lack the rosy hue the traditional beauty of the time would have. Another object Shakespeare references is coral. When Shakespeare references the lips of his mistress “Coral is far more red than her lips’” He is using imagery through the use of the coral to say that lips are not red at all, being that coral is a soft tone of pale pink this displays another stereotypical characteristic of beauty Shakespeare’s mistress