MARCIEGAMBETTA

Marcie Gambetta

English 231

Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Reading Journal 6 – 101-154

9/11/14

 

FIRST THOUGHTS

 

I am hoping the next 54 Sonnets will have some variety. The obsession with the lover and time are getting redundant. I am hopeful the poet finds a new topic, having 154 Sonnets about the same person seems a little over the top. I am looking forward to finishing these Sonnets, and then I can say I've read them! 

 

QUOTES

 

“To me fair friend, you can never be old, for as you were, when first your eye I ey'd, such seems your beauty still. Three winters before,..." I liked this quote from Sonnet 104 because it shows a truer love than the poet has displayed before.  The poet is looking beyond youth and beauty, into the depths of the lover.  He loves the lover so much, that it seems the lover hasn't aged at all.  This kind of love is rare and hard to find.

 

“Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks, Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom.  If this be error and upon me prov'd, I never writ, nor no man ever loved."  I really liked this quote from Sonnet 116.  I think it is beautiful and a more accurate representation of true love.  Love is not bound by Time, even though we change, age, and become faded, Love does not change. Love stands forever and sticks things out until the end.  The poet is so confident of this that he sends out a challenge, if someone can prove he is wrong, then he has never written and no man has ever loved. 

 

"But that your tresspass now becomes a fee; Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me." This quote from Sonnet 120 is like a childish regression compared to the two previous quotes.  The poet is trying to justify the fact that he cheated on the lover.  The lover cheated on him, so he ran out and cheated on the lover.  Since, the lover cheated on him, the poet tells him the cost of his infidelity is the infidelity of the poet

 

QUESTIONS

 

Will the lover and the poet's relationship get better?  The poet and the lover still have a very tempestuous relationship.  One minute the poet is in heaven and extoling the virtues of the lover, the next he is in hell.  I am not sure how either of them can stand all of the drama.  They must be the type of people who thrive on chaos.

 

Will we see more of the mistress?  This time, we do see more of her, a lot more. Even though the Sonnets about her appear toward the end of the series, I think they are actually concurrent with the middle Sonnets.  She seems to be an integral part of the poet's life, for a little while, at least.  The poet acts as though he has an undesirable addiction to her.

 

VOCABULARY

 

  Wight:

    Definition: a  supernatural being,  as  a witch or sprite.

    Sentence: She couldn't believe her own eyes when she saw the wight in the garden.

 

  Blazon:

    Definition: to adorn or embellish, especially brilliantly or showily

    Sentence:  The blazon on her jacket was spectacular.

 

  Abysm:

    Definintion: abyss

    Sentence: Stay away from the abysm, you wouldn't want to fall in.

 

SUMMARY/RESPONSE

 

This last group of Sonnets was more interesting to me.  With the additon of the mistress there is some more variety from what has been happening so far.  The torrid events with the mistress seem to take place concurrently with the middle Sonnets about the lover.  While, the affair is sultry it is also cruel and destructive. 

 

In Sonnets 101-108 the poet and the lover seem to have made up and are traveling smoothly along.  The poet is content with the lover and is reaffirming his love and devotion to him.  The lover now appears to be the insecure one, like maybe the lover has not been faithful to him.  The poet keeps reassuring the lover that he truly loves him, telling the lover what great qualities he has, and how beautiful he is and always will be.  The roles have been reversed, the poet is the confident one, declaring how no one can keep the poet from the lover and that peace has come to stay.  

 

Sonnets 109-126 are akin to a long ongoing lover's quarrel. The poet has cheated on the lover, perhaps to get back at the lover for his previous infidelity. A lot of what the says, his excuses, and justifications are very similar to what an unfaithful person would do and say today in modern times. He tells the lover that, even though he cheated with his body, his heart has never been unfaithful. The poet tells the lover how he means so much to the poet, nothing means more to him than the lover.

 

In Sonnets 110-112 he is continuing on with his lengthy apology, without really acting remorseful. The poet admits he went around with other people, but that he has gotten things out of his system and realizes that the lover is the best and what he truly wants.  Then the poet blames his job.  He asks for the lover's pity because it's not his fault he has to work with the public and it has a bad effect on the poet's morals and behavior.  The poet is pleading with the lover, telling him he will take whatever vile medicine the lover wants him to and the poet will gladly do a double penance because the lover is enough to cure him.  The lover's opinion is all that matters to the poet and what determines right or wrong.  It's like he is trying to guilt the lover into saying he did nothing wrong or to give him absolution. 

 

In Sonnets 113-116 the poet has decided to pledge his faithfulness and explains how he doesn't notice anything around him now, he is so aborbed in his thoughts of the lover.  The poet is so happy and is basking in the glow of the lover's forgiveness. The poet clarifies, when he said he couldn't possibly love the lover more he was wrong.  He loves the lover even more now, he thought time would diminish his love, but time has only strengthened his love.  The poet realizes that he was lusting after the lover before, but now his love is an all present mark and constant like the star that guides the boats.  All is good and right in the world, the lover has forgiven the poet.

 

Sonnets 117-126 deal with the lover's quarrel again.  The lover apparently, has brought up the poet's unfaithfulness again.  The poet attempts to twist the fact that he cheated into something good.  The poet says, he only cheated to test and prove just how much he lvoed the lover. The poet blames the lover, telling him that he was too sweet and acting like the cheating is medicine for the relationship.  Since, the poet wanted to keep the relationship healthy he had to have something bitter, so he would better appreciate the lover's sweetness.  The poet has learned from his mistake but, again, justifies it by saying it has helped their relationship become stronger and more beautiful.  In Sonnet 120 the poet seems to finally get back at the lover for the lover's past infidelity.  The poet tells him they are even now, the lover's cheating cancels out the poets, tit-for-tat.  Sonnets 122-126 focus on the poet's all consuming love for the lover again, and the poet is heaping the praise on.

 

 

In Sonnets 127-154 the subject of the Sonnets has changed to the mistress.  Even though these Sonnets are at the end the events happen concurrently with the middle Sonnets about the lover.  The relationship with the mistress is fiery at best.  The poet is practically addicted to her.  He discusses how lust makes people crazy and then proceeds to go crazy himself.  The poet is entranced by the mistresses black eyes, thinks they make her face more beautiful, and even more so when she is sad. The mistress is not a conventional beauty, she has dark hair, dark eyes, and a dark complexion.  The mistress is cruel to the poet and she even cheats on the poet with the poet's lover.  I think she may have used the poet to get to the lover, she is very mean to the poet.  She is so seductive that the poet is like a slave to her. Even though he is her slave, he is jealous of the relationship between her and the lover and he wants it to end now.  The mistress withholds affection from the poet and that causes him to get a little nasty, he says she is a loose woman so since she is with a lot of other men she might as well be with him too. He starts begging her, saying for her to pretend he is someone else, just as long as she is with him. The poet talks about how he loves her but it is more like lust.  He says she is cruel but he is cruel back. He tells her she is a slut and calls her an unfaithful disease of a woman. He acts like he hates her but he cannot get enough of her, she is like an addiction.  

 

The poet then proceeds to compare his two loves, the mistress and the lover.  They are polar opposites of each other.  The lover gives comfort and the mistress only gives despair.  The good one (the lover) is beautiful and is a man, the evil one (the mistress) is unattractive and a woman.  To put the poet in hell sooner, she tempts the lover away and hopes to corrupt him.  The poet suspects but isn't sure and won't be until the bad one casts the lover out.  Ultimately the poet feels that the mistress is driving him mad.  He goes about ranting and raving about things that aren't true, like her beauty and radiance. 

 

Neither relationships are healthy.  They all seem to thrive on chaos and delusion.  The poet continually uses a twisted logic to justify things.  They must have had a lot of energy because all of their exploits seem exhausting to me. 

 

Once again, there are many themes that could be discussed with these Sonnets but the one that stood out the most to me was "Love Will Conquer All".  When the poet has made up with the lover he is so happy and truly feels that their love for each other has overcome all obstacles.  He even thinks his their love will outlast time and conquer it, because the poems written about their love will endure forever.

 

I used Moral Critism to help analyze this text.  None of the characters in these Sonnets seem to have a very healthy moral code.  They do have redeeming qualities, like the poet's constant love for the lover (even when he is straying) and the lover shows some vulnerability when he is insecure about aging.  I did still have to take extensive notes and make lenghty commentaries to help me understand what was going on.  I think these Sonnets could make an excellent soap opera!

 

WORKS CITED

 

Shakespeare, William.  Shakespeare/s Sonnets.  Kindle Reading Library. 2012

Dictionary.  Dictionary.com LLC 2014 http://dictionary.reference.com/ 9/11/14