On Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130"

In William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”, he is concerned with discussing his mistress and comparing some of her traits to other elements of life, such as nature. He weighs his mistress’ eyes, lips, and breasts against the brightness of the sun, coral, and snow; the natural elements all seem more dazzling and intense in color compared to the dull-like description of the mistress’ features. Overall, the poem divides its private and public characteristics because Shakespeare is talking intimately about his loved one, but at the same time he is proud enough of her uniqueness to share it with others. Although his description of his mistress appears inferior to the comparisons at first glance (which likely relates to a woman’s conventional beauty or behavior at the time), Shakespeare embraces her eccentricity and is content with it. Even with hairs of “black wires” and cheeks that are not rosy, the mistress captures Shakespeare’s attention and acceptance. He is so focused on her that he transforms depictions of her assumed imperfections in the first half of “Sonnet 130” into attributes of a woman with unconventional rarity by the end. Shakespeare supports his mistress’ peculiarity by using more endearing words and sentence structures. While he begins the sonnet by saying, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” Shakespeare later changes his tone when he says, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound.” The sonnet’s structure includes some ABAB line formations and alternating between himself and his mistress as the subjects, both characteristics of other Shakespearian sonnets. With this poem, Shakespeare shows that he can accept and love someone with all of their flaws. He probably wrote “Sonnet 130” to express and discover things about his own personality, yet he simultaneously reaches out to others (of any time period) who may have relationship dilemmas based on superficial personal reservations.