Love and Lust in Shakespeare’s onnets Shakespeare’s onnets are on a variety of themes such as time, love, gender, politics, sexuality, law, metaphysics and many others. They express strong feelings and strong arguments. However shakespeare struggle with love and lust is evident in his sonnets. Throughout the reading of Shakespeare’s onnets I can per sieve that he is a profound admirer of beauty; and he per sieves beauty of different ways.
There are some kinds of beauty that he considers good for his spirit, and others that he considers bad or evil for his spirit. The beauty of the sun, earth, and sea for example are good for shakespeare; On the other hand the beauty of women is evil for him, because it persuades him to act with lust. Here initiates the dilemma that causes the struggle he has with love ans lust. It seems that Shakespeare consider women as symbols of lust, since their beauty seduces men and makes them act in response to the evil desires that are inside of them – desires of the flesh -which corr up the spirit. ” Two loves I have of comfort and despair, which like two spirits do suggest me still: The better angel is a man right fair, The worser spirit a woman, colored ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil. Temp teth my better angel… and would corrupt my saint to be a devil” (Sonnet 144, page 821, red book). The beauty of women is the cause of lust, as it is also pictured in sonnet 1, when it says:” From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty’s rose might never die.” Another sonnet that express Shakespeare’s blame on women for being the symbol of passion is sonnet 29: ” A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion” (page 811). Not only the beauty of women causes passion and lust according to shakespeare sonnets, but also the beauty of art seduces men to passionate and lust. In sonnet 128, the author is being seduced by the woman who is playing the instrument; however, in this case he does not feel seduced by the woman, but he is seduced by the song that she is playing:” Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap to kiss the t tender inward of thy hand…
making dead wood more blessed than living lips” (page 819). Shakespeare’s struggle with love and lust makes their sonnets full of doubts, pain and tragedy that usually bring with it a very sad ending. ” My love is as a fever, longing still for that with longer nurse th the disease… uncertain sickly appetite…
Desire is death.” (Sonnet 147, page 822).