Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets revolve around two people’s relationship with each other. Shakespeare’s sonnets show the Victorian standards of true love. Although Sonnet 130 and Sonnet 138 both discuss love, they have different views of how true love is expressed. Sonnet 130 regards loving your partner despite their faults and being honest about the fact that they’re human. Sonnet 138 is about omitting your faults from a relationship in attempts to preserve the love.
In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is brutally honest about his lover. He compares her to all of the cliché examples of love at the time, however, instead of being beautiful beyond compare—she’s average. By using repetition, Shakespeare reinforces the fact that she is far from perfect. The repetition enforces the constant comparison of his love to something lesser or unconventional. His lover’s breath reeks (line 8) and teeth don’t shine (line -), her skin is dull and unimpressive (line. On the first read, the reader might assume that the narrator is unattracted to his love. However, the Volta proves this to be untrue. The author does not hate his love for being imperfect—he loves her for her imperfections.
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“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare”, -- line 13 shows that he feels his lover is just as special, if not more, as any other women written about in poetry at the time. Shakespeare’s brutal honesty about his lover is what makes this sonnet an example of remarkable love. The author is choosing to love his lady despite her flaws, instead of for her perfections. He refuses to draw false conclusions like other poets (line 14) and his love is stronger because of it. Yet the author still choses to love her and accept her for how she is. Sonnet 130 shows that love is honest, even about unflattering things.
Contrarily, Sonnet 138 focuses on withholding the truth about your faults from your lover. The primary focus of this poem are the things that both the narrator and the narrator’s lover are withholding from the other. The narrator is older, the love interest is lying—and they both are well aware of this fact but lie so the other will remain interested in them.
In the opening line the author admits that he knows that his interest is lying. He continues to admit that he goes along with it so that she will think he is young. His lover admits that she knows he is older than he lets on. They both are aware that the other is lying, however, they do not ever confront the other about their lives. The author later admits, “And in our faults by lies we flattered be,” that they are both equally flattered by the lies they have created, so they continue their relationship. This allows the author and his lover to live a comfortable relationship. By choosing to ignore each other’s faults, they have a relationship that they can perpetuate safely.
Compared to Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138’s stance on love is vastly opposing. Sonnet 130 primarily focuses on the belief that honesty about your partner’s flaws is the best way to love your partner. Sonnet 138 focuses on the choice to focus on flattery to preserve a relationship. Shakespeare provides two vastly different stances. One sonnet focuses primarily on truth, while the other focuses on dishonesty—the two could not be more opposite. However, one similarity prevails in both. The narrators love their partners in their own unique ways. Shakespeare shows the honesty of love in both sonnets. No relationship is perfect, and through both sonnets, Shakespeare presents the
This poses an important question for the reader—What is real love? Shakespeare’s sonnets seem to have two vastly different takes on this. Sonnet 130 enforces the idea that honesty, which may lead to some discomfort, provides strength in relationships. Sonnet 138 enforces the belief that dishonesty in the form of flattery provides the most comfortable relationships. Shakespeare’s idea of love may seem conflicting when viewing these specific sonnets. However, Shakespeare’s sonnets were not written to prove what true love is—they were written to capture the humanity of love. Sonnet 18 compares love to the seasons, changing, yet everlasting. Sonnet 73 discusses love in old age. Shakespeare’s sonnets focus on all aspects of love—the different forms it can come in, and the ways it is presented.
“O learn to read what silent love hath writ!
To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.” – Sonnet 23
The Narrator is pleading the audience to read between the lines about how he expresses his love when words fail him, and through his sonnets, Shakespeare is asking the same.
Furthermore, Sonnet 130 and 138 both portray different kinds of love, however, they both accomplish Shakespeare’s goal of showcasing love in its many different forms. Looking at the sonnets from this perspective, Shakespeare’s work becomes timeless. The humanity of love that Shakespeare captures in his work is unparalleled by no other. His sonnets do not show what is true love, or what is a perfect relationship—they capture the love we have in our everyday lives. Because of this, Shakespeare’s work is timeless. Other writers at the time used cliché examples of what they thought love was. While their poetry may be studied and well known, it did not have the lasting effects on the English language that Shakespeare’s poetry did (The Survival of Shakespeare’s Language in English Dialects). Shakespeare’s work challenged the concepts of love and romance at the time and became timeless.
These two sonnets are well renowned and viewed as iconic love poems for their content.
- Reich, Peter A. “Googling Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Effect on Current English.” LACUS Forum, vol. 32, 2006, pp. 355–67. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=mzh&AN=2007751295&site=eds-live&custid=magn1307.
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