Sonnet 147: Duality of a Lover between Desire and Rational Mind
Uploaded by Touhid on Sep 09, 2014
Sonnet 147: Duality of a Lover between Desire and Rational Mind
Introduction:
Shakespeare’s sonnets are one of the most intriguing works that keeps appealing the modern reader of the day even after five hundred years of its inception. Although, he is being mostly celebrated of his plays, but his sonnets also contain dramatic elements and gives a sense of stories too. The sonnets of Shakespeare remain as a hot area of literary study because of its depth of storytelling capability, imagery, theme of love and desire, and autobiographical elements. The speakers’ in the sonnets of Shakespeare also appear to be one of his dramatic creations like Othello, Macbeth or Anthony that each speaker of the sonnet exemplifies the experience of life and the inner passion for it. The most striking section of ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnets’ is the so called ‘Dark Lady’ sequence. The sonnets in this sequence seem to be addressed to a mysterious woman, whom the poet simultaneously loves, hates, desires and lust for. The sonnets from 127 to 154 are called the ‘dark lady’ sonnets as these sonnets make it clear that the lady in the sonnets has black hair and dusky skin; this sequence also established that she is not only dark in appearance but she also has a dark heart like hell. The shorter grouping of sonnets 127-154 ends with the poet admitting that he is a slave to his passion for the woman and can do nothing to curb his lust. Shakespeare turns the traditional idea of a romantic sonnet on its head in this series, however, as his ‘Dark Lady’ is not an alluring beauty and does not exhibit the perfection that lovers typically ascribe to their beloved. Besides, the woman of Shakespeare’s sonnets is earthy, sexual, and faithless, which directly oppose the contemporary descriptions of lovers in other sonnet sequences of the time. The detailed description of the speaker’s or poet’s description of his mistress is found in the “Sonnet 130”, while the relation between the protagonist and the ‘dark lady’ is well portrayed in the “Sonnet 147”. Though, “Sonnet 147” demonstrates the negative aspects of the speaker’s or poet’s relationship with his mistress but the sonnet also clearly established his mental and physical struggle of loving the ‘dark lady’. Beside, the woman’s color is also mentioned in “Sonnet 147”, where she is pronounced “as black as hell”.
The following passages of this paper will...