An Explication of Shakespeare’s “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”

An Explication of Shakespeare’s “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”

The sonnet begins with the poet making a declaration of his belief in love. In line one he refers to a “marriage of true minds” (1). The choice of the word “true” here is interesting as it has many possible meanings. Did he intend for us to think of true as meaning correct, exact, or precise? These are not the meanings that come to mind when we talk about love. In keeping with the theme of love we see that the meaning of true here is of the genuine, pure, and honest variety. As he transitions to line two with the words “Admit impediments” (2) he speaks of not allowing obstacles to interfere with love. He continues telling us what love is not when he ends line two and begins line three. He says that “love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds” (2 – 3) which is meant to tell us that love is immune to changes outside itself. You cannot make love alter its nature by external means. In line four, he tells of the flexibility and strength of love to thwart any attempt to quash it with the phrase “bends with the remover to remove” (4). At this point the poet transitions from telling us what love is not to what love actually is. In line five he exclaims “Oh no! it is an ever-fixèd mark” (5). Here we sense that he is making a point to his being our guide in the ways of love. His choice of the word “mark” (5) for instance can be taken to mean a landmark that does not change position with the passage of time. He gives us more clues to love being a guidepost that is not susceptible to external influences in line six with “That looks on tempests and is never shaken” (6). Here, he is also telling us that love remains firm and tranquil no matte...

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...hat the poet wants us to see this “doom” (12) as the biblical end of days. In this case, we see that love will last for the entire history of all creation. If this is the way we are meant to read it, we see that God and love stand together as the universe is undone. We could further see this as a statement of God being the perfection of love. Love is the conduit with which man can experience the purity of God. The poet concludes the poem in lines thirteen and fourteen saying “If this be error and upon me proved” and “I never writ, nor no man ever loved” (13 – 14). Here he is saying that if he is wrong we may consider him to have never existed at all. Since what we have of the poet is his writing, we know that he did exist and he seems to suggest that we would be better to ignore all he ever was if to us love does not have the power which he attributes it.