Baring It All
According to Merriam Webster, love is someone having a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties. Another one would be an attraction based on sexual desire or an affection and tenderness felt by lovers. Finally, love is an affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests. I have encountered these definitions on a regular basis, from my mother’s relationship with her dogs to the first time I experienced an unrequited love, these moments have opened my eyes to what this word actually means. However, these definitions cannot be applied to William Shakespeare’s lifetime. During the Elizabethan age, love was considered to be an attraction between males and females which ultimately led toward
Shakespeare states, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love” (1-2). In addition, these two lines suggest that he chose not to believe in what others told him about love and two people together was something unconventional. Even though this poem speaks to the nature of what love is and what it should be, it strays from that dynamic and gives the reader a glimpse into Shakespeare’s heart. As the sonnet continues, the ambiguous question of gender is answered and it becomes clear that he is writing about another
It allows us as human beings to share and connect with others who inspire, care for, and teach us. We learn things about ourselves that would have never appeared if those bonds had not formed. Shakespeare and his sonnets share universal themes such as eternal love, marriage, and longing. Each one is a layer of his personality, allowing the reader to develop a greater appreciation for his work. “To look at the sonnets in relation to their author does not mean turning away from their qualities as poetry; on the contrary, the poems gain meaning and beauty—even the ones most familiar (Barber, 650.)” His sonnets were essentially private love letters addressed to those he admired, using poetry to express his feelings during a period where they were frowned upon. “We can see in them a great artist encountering in love, the predicaments of his temperament and his part in life. And we can see what he loved, turned into the substance of poetry (Barber, 650.)” In short, William Shakespeare’s love sonnets defied what was considered normal during his lifetime and have transcended the idea that love should only be applicable to
...ive more information into themselves than into their subjects, and it is presumed that Shakespeare is no exception. At the time he wrote this, Shakespeare clearly felt hopeless to love, which is evident in the themes of the play, the scenes that occur, and the motivations of his characters. His personal interpretation was that hate wins, but that isn’t always true in the real world. People all interpret the world differently, and while Shakespeare’s outlook was negative, not all view it so. Some people would argue that in real life love wins, showing the importance perspective can play, and the fact that the outlook often has more effect than the events themselves, and that interpretation is up to the individual.
Societal and environmental factors, even from the beginning of adolescence, shape people’s interpretation and comprehension of love (Hartup 8-13). This makes it decidedly difficult for people to notice a distinction between the different types of love. Not only do copious types of love exist, but also there are varying definitions of love (Rubin 2-4). Whilst some people may define love as immaturity, others may define it as a positive passionate emotion between two, occasionally multiple, people (1). The primary type of love, defined by the latter statement in the previous sentence, in King Lear is familial love — rather than the romantic love that a multitude of Shakespeare’s other plays revolve around. Bloom mentions
Webster’s Dictionary defines love as a feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; preeminent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters. By the end of Shakespeare’s play Midsummer Night’s Dream, it goes without saying that Webster’s Dictionary definition was able to hit this definition head on. Shakespeare is able to paint the perfect picture for this play mainly because he is one of the great masters of the English Language.
When he writes "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she, belied with false compare." (lines 13-14) in the final couplet, one responds with an enlightened appreciation, making them understand Shakespeare's message that true love consists of something deeper than physical beauty. Shakespeare expresses his ideas in a wonderful fashion. Not only does he express himself through direct interpretation of his sonnet, but also through the levels at which he styled and produced it. One cannot help but appreciate his message of true love over lust, along with his creative criticism of Petrarchan sonnets.
Shakespeare’s sonnets include love, the danger of lust and love, difference between real beauty and clichéd beauty, the significance of time, life and death and other natural symbols such as, star, weather and so on. Among the sonnets, I found two sonnets are more interesting that show Shakespeare’s love for his addressee. The first sonnet is about the handsome young man, where William Shakespeare elucidated about his boundless love for him and that is sonnet 116. The poem explains about the lovers who have come to each other freely and entered into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The first four lines reveal the poet’s love towards his lover that is constant and strong and will not change if there any alternation comes. Next four lines explain about his love which is not breakable or shaken by the storm and that love can guide others as an example of true love but that extent of love cannot be measured or calculated. The remaining lines of the third quatrain refer the natural love which can’t be affected by anything throughout the time (it can also mean to death). In the last couplet, if
There is a defining complication in the sonnet. “This centers on the ambiguity of the term “mistress” which could refer to a husband’s wife, or, as the Oxford English Dictionary suggests, could also mean “[a] woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart” or “[a]woman other than his wife with whom a man has a long-lasting sexual relationship” (Gregory, 2). The poem does not specify if “my love” refers to the speaker’s mistress or to the speaker’s love, his feelings. Shakespeare could be implying that his feelings and his love, are equally as sacred as the supposed love of other lovers that his mistress wrongly compares him
Shakespeare uses many different methods of discourse to examine this theme of love. In both sonnets the lover is exerting his control over the narrator, but the narrator does not really mind being controlled in either sonnet. Both sonnets include many elements and references to time and waiting and all of these references relate to love by showing love’s long lifespan and varying strengths over time. The only major difference between the two sonnets lies in their addressing love. Sonnet 57 talks directly to it in a personifying manner, whereas sonnet 58 merely refers to it through other means. Through this variety of explorations of the theme of love, Shakespeare shows that love has many faces and ways of expressing itself.
In Sonnet number one-hundred sixteen Shakespeare deals with the characteristics of a love that is “not time’s fool”, that true love that will last through all (Ln: 9). This sonnet uses the traditional Shakespearian structure of three quatrains and a couplet, along with a standard rhyme scheme. The first and third quatrains deal with the idea that love is “an ever-fixed mark”, something that does not end or change over time (Ln: 5). Shakespeare illustrates this characteristic of constancy through images of love resisting movemen...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The literal meaning is that the perception of beauty is subjective. English poet, playwright, and actor, one who is outstandingly regarded as possible the greatest writer to English language goes by the name of William Shakespeare, and his written about this very idea. Shakespeare was born in 1564 in England, and lived a life span of fifty two years, passing away in 1616. While Shakespeare was born near the end of the Renaissance era, and was the first to bring about the time’s core value’s to stage, he also composed a series of sonnets, even having his own sonnet known as the Shakespearean Sonnet. Love was a focal point, any poet who was a great poet wrote about love, and falsely compared it to perfection in the eye of the composer. Shakespeare himself wrote about perfection in the features of his lover; however in Sonnet 130, he explores a different, deeper truer side to love. Despite his mistress’s physical flaws, he loves her incomparably. ...
The love that a person has for someone is not the same for other people. They can look at their love through nature or just by their beauty. Shakespeare has the ability to explain his love for someone by using nature as a reference. Looking at two of Shakespeare’s sonnets 18 and 130 explore the differences and similarities between one another. In Sonnet 18 and 130, both show Shakespeare’s knowledge in developing his love and respect.
This duality of love is established early within the play with Orsino’s commentary on love. In Orsino’s lines, he describes the “spirit of love” as being “quick and fresh” (1.1.9), and he continues to explain how love “…falls into abatement and low pride even in a minute” (1.1.13-14). With these lines, Shakespeare expresses how quickly love can alternate from an entity of joy to one of extreme depression. By employing these lines so early in the play, the vision of love as a force of exceeding strength is firmly planted within the reader’s subconscious, and Shakespeare has prepared the reader to fully grasp the central theme of the play.
From the works of William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser it is clear that some similarities are apparent, however the two poets encompass different writing styles, as well as different topics that relate to each other in their own unique ways. In Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” and Spenser’s “Sonnet 75”, both poets speak of love in terms of feelings and actions by using different expressive views, allowing the similar topics to contain clear distinctions. Although Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 75” and William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” relate in the sense that love is genuine and everlasting, Spenser suggests love more optimistically, whereas Shakespeare focuses on expressing the beauty and stability of love.
This poem speaks of a love that is truer than denoting a woman's physical perfection or her "angelic voice." As those traits are all ones that will fade with time, Shakespeare exclaims his true love by revealing her personality traits that caused his love. Shakespeare suggests that the eyes of the woman he loves are not twinkling like the sun: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" (1). Her hair is compared to a wire: "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (3). These negative comparisons may sound almost unloving, however, Shakespeare proves that the mistress outdistances any goddess. This shows that the poet appreciates her human beauties unlike a Petrarchan sonnet that stresses a woman's cheek as red a rose or her face white as snow. Straying away from the dazzling rhetoric, this Shakespearean poem projects a humane and friendly impression and elicits laughter while expressing a truer love. A Petrarchan sonnet states that love must never change; this poem offers a more genuine expression of love by describing a natural woman.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived in a time of religious turbulence. During the Renaissance people began to move away from the Church. Authors began to focus on the morals of the individual and on less lofty ideals than those of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare wrote one-hundred fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime. Within these sonnets he largely explored romantic love, not the love of God. In Sonnet 29 Shakespeare uses specific word choice and rhyme to show the reader that it is easy to be hopeful when life is going well, but love is always there, for rich and poor alike, even when religion fails.
Almost four hundred years after his death, William Shakespeare's work continues to live on through his readers. He provides them with vivid images of what love was like during the 1600's. Shakespeare put virtually indescribable feelings into beautiful words that fit the specific form of the sonnet. He wrote 154 sonnets; all of which discuss some stage or feature of love. Love was the common theme during the time Shakespeare was writing. However, Shakespeare wrote about it in such a way that captivated his reader and made them want to apply his words to their romances. What readers do not realize while they compare his sonnets to their real life relationships is that Shakespeare was continually defying the conventions of courtly love in his writings.