The Power Of Mortality In Shakespeare's Sonnet 65

Time is a powerful thing. It controls when and how a person will go about their life. Being a manmade concept, there is still an Earth made idea that stands behind it. There is nothing that can escape the powers of time. Man has tried to become the master of time, but this always leads to a frivolous end. For Shakespeare in Sonnet 65, time is a destroyer and a villain. How can one expect to keep something delicate, safe from time when strong earthly things are destroyed by it? The poet grapples with this idea as he tries to find a way to keep the beauty of his beloved safe from the ravenous mortality. Through the villainous characterizations of mortality and Time, Shakespeare presents a sorrowful portrayal of one man trying to stand against

He states, “But sad mortality” which conveys a sorrow associated with mortality. The word choice here works to show how the poet is feeling sorrow and sadness as he writes. There is an extra syllable at the end of this line, line two, and it gives the line a weak ending. This shows the poet’s lack of confidence in standing up to the power of mortality. Mortality can overtake the powerful stone, brass, earth, and boundless sea. The power of mortality is no match for them, it is superior. By giving mortality rage in line three, it shows the fury that mortality has and its destructive tendencies toward anything in its path. There is an interesting word choice at the end of this line in the use of the word “plea.” Plea invokes a begging, like standing on trial in a court room. It gives the image of mortality being an unfair judge and beauty is on trial. The poet then asks his pivotal question at the end of the quatrain. How can the delicate beauty stand a chance against mortality? By using the image of a flower, which is beautiful in nature, as a weak ending to the quatrain, it shows the delicacy of beauty against the violent anger and madness of