Shakespeare Sonnet 53 Essay

The Beauty of Sonnet 53

Whether we realize it or not, we often give overlook the faults in the people who are dear to us. We focus on their good qualities and ignore the bad. This practice is not unique to our culture nor is it unique to our era. Shakespeare in his sonnet numbered 53, compares all beauty to his friend, and criticizes for trying to be as good as his friend. He does this by seemingly comparing his friend to things of beauty when in reality he is suggesting that his friend is the ideal and the beautiful things are merely copies or reflections of the friend.

In choosing the words to describe the person in this sonnet, Shakespeare grabs hold of "what is loveliest in the world at large,"1 In the first two lines,

"Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit/Is poorly imitated after you."7 The beauty of Adonis can only mirror qualities that are truly seen in the friend of the poet. The use of the word counterfeit in Elizabethan poetry was often used not only to imply imitation but deceitful intentions as well.8 So not only is Adonis a poor copy of the poet's friend but his beuaty is nothing more than a counterfeit of the original.

Adonis is not the only reflection of the friend's beauty; other legendary figures of beauty find their "counterpart[s] in the young man."9 Shakespeare continues in comparing all beauty to his friend in lines seven and eight where he writes, "On Helen's cheek all art beauty set, /And you in Grecian tires painted new."10 The beauty of Grecian clothing, such as may have been worn

by Helen of Troy, is also said to be a copy of the subject of the sonnet.

Besides comparing the ideal human form and beautiful clothing to the friend, Shakespeare compares springtime and harvest and everything beautiful to him. Lines nine, ten, eleven and twelve read,

"Speak of the spring, and foison of the year:

The one doth shadow of your beauty

Although these things are related to the friend, they differ from him because of his constant heart.

To recap and conclude, the friend whom "we have known as the pattern of all things lovely,"13 is said to be the pattern of beauty within Adonis and Helen, in Grecian attire, within springtime and harvest as well as in everything of beauty.

Although all of these things contain his likeness, his constant heart remains his own. By comparing all things beautiful to the

friend, Shakespeare is not only paying him a compliment but is also criticizing all other beauty for being a counterfeit. The person described in this sonnet may have been beautiful, but being human, he must have had faults. Sonnet 53 shows how we often overlook the faults in the people we love.

Notes

1 James Winny, The Master-Mistress: A Study of Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968) 130.

2 William Shakespeare, Sonnet 53 The Sonnets (Waltham, Massachusetts: Blaisdell, 1968)