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Poetic techniques in sonnet 130
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Sonnet XX, by William Shakespeare, is fraught with wordplay and ambiguity. Shakespeare misleads the audience with variety of puns and double entendres. Due to the large amount of criticism this poem produces, it is necessary to analyze this piece twice: once from the perspective of a female attraction, and once from the perspective of a male attraction. Only when both sides of this equilibrium are examined can true insight be achieved. It is my goal to present the same mystifying experiences as Shakespeare: the initial debate as to whether this fair youth is male or female, and the ultimate debate as to whether our narrator’s intense fondness for this youth is the result of platonic love or carnal lust. After all, Shakespeare obviously created this uncertainty for a reason. The question that remains is “Why?”
Sonnet Twenty opens with the line “A woman’s face, with nature’s own hand painted.” This leaves us with the impression that the narrator, an unidentified young man, perhaps even Shakespeare himself, is describing a beautiful young woman. A woman so beautiful, in fact, that she has no use for cosmetics, because Nature personally took time to craft her. Nature is an artist and the object of our narrator’s affection, which the reader originally believes to be a woman, is her work of art, her canvas, so to speak. Continuing from this is the second line, “Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion”. This line contains our, antithesis—“master-mistress”—in that the pair of words are complete opposites. These titles of ranks suggest that the woman simply mesmerizes our narrator. She is the object of his love and sexual desire. In fact, the word “mistress” suggests that our narrator may be participating in infidel...
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...autiful and gentle. These traits are more often associated with females, so the fact that the individual has a penis, indicates that Nature indeed muddled her own creation. As I have stated, Nature is almost always referred to as a “she” (see line ten). So, if this woman found herself attracted to a member of the same sex, as is hinted at through the phrase “fell a-doting” (which can be “to be infatuated” or “to love to excess”), and if this same omnipotent force disapproved of such relationships (if only for the simple fact that same sex relations do not produce offspring), would it not make sense for her to alter this individual? If only to be led into a temptation which contradicts her morals? It would. Through this act, Nature is condemning homosexual acts, even though she is quite aware that the emotions will not cease. She only wishes not to participate.
The essay, Why Shouldn’t Tommy and Jim Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality by John Corvino addresses a topic that has long been controversial for more years than people can count. This topic, like a never-stopping debate, often brings various opinions onto the table, including religious morals, human future and procreation. Homosexuality has been seen as a serious sin through many people’s eyes and is often accused by others of being “immoral” and “unnatural” (Corvino). People often have a hard time accepting couples who practice relationship with the same sex. In the article, Corvino rejects the idea that homosexual sex is unnatural and immoral. He defended for his gay friend’s rights throughtout
...ognized that heterosexual, as well as homosexual individuals engaged oral and anal sex (Gay and Lesbian Rights, 49). For many years it was thought that people who were gay had some sort of mental disorder, and there are still plenty of individuals who believe this. Texas has yet to repeal laws condemning persons of sodomy, as well as three other states (Gay and Lesbian Rights, 49). This is evidence that certain individuals in Texas still believe that sodomy is a crime. Many are set in their ways, that the bible states clearly the stipulation that a man with a woman is the only correct and moral pairing of human beings. With knowledge of the overlying historical ideology of justification for discrimination that Baynton discusses in his essay, the egregiousness of this historical and current oppression of those with ‘abnormal’ sexual preferences becomes even clearer.
...e speaker admits she is worried and confused when she says, “The sonnet is the story of a woman’s struggle to make choices regarding love.” (14) Her mind is disturbed from the trials of love.
Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare’s harsh yet realistic tribute to his quite ordinary mistress. Conventional love poetry of his time would employ Petrarchan imagery and entertain notions of courtly love. Francis Petrarch, often noted for his perfection of the sonnet form, developed a number of techniques for describing love’s pleasures and torments as well as the beauty of the beloved. While Shakespeare adheres to this form, he undermines it as well. Through the use of deliberately subversive wordplay and exaggerated similes, ambiguous concepts, and adherence to the sonnet form, Shakespeare creates a parody of the traditional love sonnet. Although, in the end, Shakespeare embraces the overall Petrarchan theme of total and consuming love.
The imposition of the British aggressor is even made apparent through the structure of the work, the two sonnet form stanzas not only highlight the inadequacy of the loveless union, but with their Shakespearean rhyme scheme also imply the cultural dominance of English tradition. The use of half rhymes, such as ‘pulse’ and ‘burst’ or ‘pain’ and ‘within’ leaves the stanzas feel...
...were initially skeptical, until gradually, the weight of scientific fact has shifted the opinion to the belief in these views. As seen in the film, Paris is Burning, homosexuality is not much of a choice, but a way of life that not many would chose living unless biologically destined to be. We must trust that the very knowledge of the natural and biological springs of sexual abnormality will bring about the recognition that the syndrome is natural, and may change our perceptions of what is normal. After all, the problem, such as Bornstein stated, is with our intolerance that they do not conform with what we think is 'normal' gender identity and sexual behavior. Though it is our biologically wired mind that makes us intolerable and aggressive to the 'outsider', it is our duty as a society to erase this ignorance by education of the genetically sexual 'deviant' ones.
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
“My mother continuous to talk about my lesbianism as if it were a genetic defect.” (Fairyington, 2010) Being gay in the world is almost a disease, that’s everyone is afraid to let people know they are “infected” with homosexuality. Between the excommunication from churches all the way down to the disclaiming from those who are your family and supposed to support you through anything. Which Fairyington said if there were some type of cure for this, she would take it, but it’s just not. She also talks about how she’s just naturally attracted to the same sex. Meaning she tries to become heterosexual but it just doesn’t work that way. She says the only choice she has unto her personal attractions is choosing to follow her desires. Meaning that one can’t choose who they like but choose to act upon their feelings. If she was to be able to hinder her desires, then she will not choose to be that way. Until the conservative allies see that than homosexuality will stop being viewed as nature’s mistake. “What does it say about our self-worth and status in society if we as gay people must practice a politics of pity to secure our place in the world.”
Early in the book in references Christianity’s relationship with homosexuality and how the religion influenced beliefs on sex and attraction. Then explains how sexuality is hard to talk about because of the strong emotions surrounding it and how those emotions (hate, fear, warmth, attraction) inevitably influence choices that people make. It even goes as far as saying sexuality influences “political divisions”. History-wise the book explains how
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
..., D. E. (2009, November 7). The Sonnet, Subjectivity, and Gender. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from mit.edu: www.mit.edu/~shaslang/WGS/HendersonSSG.pdf
People often want to ensure that they are loved and often demand to know why they are loved. When one is asked a question like "Why do you love me?" one should think about how to answer for a good while. If a man responds to this question by picking specific attributes of a woman, such as her face or figure, she will usually be dissatisfied with his answer. Indeed, loving a woman because of her physical beauty is not the true love described by Shakespeare. In the sonnet, Shakespeare shows a deeper love that is beyond that of physical attraction. To discover the reasons of why two people love each other, they have to go beyond the physical attributes that they favor, and see the person in the aspect of the personal sense.
Much has been made (by those who have chosen to notice) of the fact that in Shakespeare's sonnets, the beloved is a young man. It is remarkable, from a historical point of view, and raises intriguing, though unanswerable, questions about the nature of Shakespeare's relationship to the young man who inspired these sonnets. Given 16th-Century England's censorious attitudes towards homosexuality, it might seem surprising that Will's beloved is male. However, in terms of the conventions of the poetry of idealized, courtly love, it makes surprisingly little difference whether Will's beloved is male or female; to put the matter more strongly, in some ways it makes more sense for the beloved to be male.
During the course of Edmund Spencer’s Amoretti, the “Petrarchan beloved certainly underwent a transformation” (Lever 98); the speaker depicts the beloved as merciless and is not content with being an “unrequited lover” (Roche 1) as present in a Petrarchan sonnet. Throughout Sonnet 37 and Sonnet 54, the speaker provides insight into the beloved not seen within the Petrarchan sonnets; though the speaker does present his uncontrollable love for the beloved, he does so through his dissatisfaction with his position and lack of control. In Sonnet 37, the speaker describes the beloved as an enchantress who artfully captures the lover in her “golden snare” (Spencer, 6) and attempts to warn men of the beloved’s nature. Sonnet 54, the speaker is anguished by the beloved’s ignorance towards his pain and finally denies her humanity. Spencer allows the speaker to display the adversarial nature of his relationship with the beloved through the speaker’s negative description of the beloved, the presentation of hope of escaping from this love, and his discontent with his powerlessness. Spencer presents a power struggle and inverted gender roles between the lover and the beloved causing ultimate frustration for the speaker during his fight for control.
William Shakespeare's sonnets deal with two very distinct individuals: the blond young man and the mysterious dark-haired woman. The young man is the focus of the earlier numbered sonnets while the latter ones deal primarily with the dark-haired woman. The character of the young man and a seductive mistress are brought together under passionate circumstances in Shakespeare's "Sonnet 42." The sexual prowess of the mistress entangles both Shakespeare and the young man in her web of flesh. This triangular sonnet brings out Shakespeare's affection for both individuals. His narcissistic ideal of delusional love for the young man is shown through diction and imagery, metrical variation and voice, contained in three quatrains and one couplet.