No Groove in the Gunsights
Always under the thumb of his dark mistress, the speaker struggles
beneath her power. Try as he may, he will never be able to break the tie of
lust between the two. His threats are not threatening to her, and he knows this.
His power is beneath her's, and he knows this as well. By threatening his
lover in the 140th sonnet, the speaker is merely admitting to his own
helplessness to which he is forever bound.
This appears to be the first sonnet in which he is taking a stand.
Never before has he spoken in such a threatening tone: "Be wise…do not press/My
tongue tied patience…" (140. 1-2). One might think that he is now revealing for
the first time his yet unheard of power.
But he has no such power. He knows that his threats do not frighten her…
so why does he even bother? Sure, he could untie his tongue and let the world
know of her habits. However, no one would care. She is a dark lady—she and
others like her are meant to be that way. He would only be telling what is
already known. However, what she has to tell of him is not already known.
Being a married man, he is not expected to have a mistress.
She is his only mistress. They both know this as well. If he were to
lose her, he would have nothing left. She knows his lust for her—his need for
her. She knows he lives for her darkness and for the pleasure he finds in her…
temporary as it may be. Temporary yet lasting. There may be times when he
thinks he can live without her, but the time comes again soon when he feels the
familiar lust again. It is the lack of love which makes it temporary. However,
it is the abundance of lust which makes it permanent.
He is only one of her many lovers. If she were to loose him, she would
still have many others to satisfy her. She takes comfort in the fact that he
needs her and he remains under her thumb to almost any extent. The speaker
knows she has many lovers. He claims to hate her unfaithfulness, but in fact he
likes it. He likes the fact that she is nothing more than an object of sex…of
temporary pleasure. If she were really in love with him and were truly faithful,
he would be less attracted to her. The passion and the lust would be gone.
So the question remains—why does he bother with these empty threats?
knows that she enjoys it, and it makes her happy. It is as though he
though Tea Cake asks for her opinion when he does something and cares about her.
without him she is lonely. She talks about him as if he is with her
...rson and he knows that she will take care of the little guy even if the Guy is not around. A distort desire to be free of the situation drive the whole family into tragedy and leave them grieves
that it is the way to get successful. He wants to get rid of her,
to her as much as he wants but she is not letting him back into her life. When Thomas
tumbled short of his dreams - not through her own fault, but because of the
she left him for a man that showed much potential to give the kind of love
... know how to react because Bobinot is not the man she is in love with.
agree with the actions she performs and his guilt overwhelms him. The guilt he feels pushes him to do
Her need to be loved by him had taken over her idea that he enjoyed the power, she couldn’t live with out his love.
not care. She willingly goes forth with the relationship, even if he is just using her for sex. In Pam Houston’s short story,
in him that is totally based on a picture she makes of him in her mind. What
plan and tells him to leave it to her. She's cunning as she uses words
can be happy as he knows she has always been loyal to him and made