Is Love An Unattainable Ideal? Essay

Love can be a tricky thing. Love can be the begging to something new, something beautiful. While, Love can also be a dangerous and deserving thing. Love is a feeling many will feel whether for someone or something. Yet, loving someone can truly show not only who someone is as a person but, can show things about yourself you never knew. Thing you wish you never knew. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 137” shows the dirt and ugly and immoral side your heart can obtain when love is blinding you.

Rather than glide about gracefully, Shakespeare’s lover in Sonnet 130 clumsily stomps about . His tone takes on that of a more condescending manner rather than the sincere tone presented in Sonnet 18. While both Sonnet 130 and Sonnet 18 proclaim a love and beauty beyond compare, Sonnet 18 in the only authentic sonnet of the two, as it attests and supports the notion of romantic love. Utilizing the theme of an ideal, incomparable love and beauty, Sonnet 130 merely satirizes this incomparable love through mockery, parody, and tone. While some may argue that it is Sonnet 18 that is the parody, Shakespeare's depiction of an incomparable love transcending that of the heavens is the perfect representation of a traditional love sonnet, while Sonnet 130 fails to support this notion through the implementation of

Shakespeare examines love in two different ways in Sonnets 116 and 130. In the first, love is treated in its most ideal form as an uncompromising force (indeed, as the greatest force in the universe); in the latter sonnet, Shakespeare treats love from a more practical aspect: it is viewed simply and realistically without ornament. Yet both sonnets are justifiable in and of themselves, for neither misrepresents love or speaks of it slightingly. Indeed, Shakespeare illustrates two qualities of love in the two sonnets: its potential and its objectivity. This paper will compare and contrast the two sonnets by Shakespeare and show how they represent two different attitudes to love.

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116” and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Love Is Not All” both attempt to define love, by telling what love is and what it is not. Shakespeare’s sonnet praises love and speaks of love in its most ideal form, while Millay’s poem begins by giving the impression that the speaker feels that love is not all, but during the unfolding of the poem we find the ironic truth that love is all. Shakespeare, on the other hand, depicts love as perfect and necessary from the beginning to the end of his poem. Although these two authors have taken two completely different approaches, both have worked to show the importance of love and to define it. However, Shakespeare is most confident of his definition of love, while Millay seems

The ideas of love being expressed in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Sonnet 130 are genuinely contrasting. In Much Ado About Nothing, one of the many focal points are Beatrice and Benedick’s foolish relationship, also the most captivating, whereas in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is talking about the misrepresentation of the “Dark Lady”, who he refers to as his mistress. Regardless of a person’s flaws disfigurements, the stress they cause, and the bickering that occurs, love can withstand time, and under the circumstances love doesn’t change for anyone, that it does not substitute itself when it finds differences in the loved one.

Most of the major characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night experience some form of love or marriage. Whether it’s unrequited like with Antonio and Malvolio, or it is something seemingly unattainable like with Duke Orsino. Regardless, it is clear that love is prevalent as one of the central themes Shakespeare seems to emphasize in Twelfth Night. With that, we see him communicate different interpretations and feelings regarding the subject. He does this with the medium of melodramatic characters. In this essay, I will elaborate on the opinions of love that Shakespeare communicates through one of the leading characters:

Love means that one has to care for another person’s happiness more than their own, no matter how painful the choices one faces must be. It becomes a strong and emotional attachment that focuses on the heart and mind while simultaneously is a promise and the simplest way to be happy. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Philip Sidney’s “Astrophil and Stella Sonnet 31”, certain characters have a distorted view on love as it is dominant and holds a heavy weight on the formation of relationships. A simple four letter word can be very influential when creating a basis of emotional availability.

Everyone in the world, in one way or another, experiences love; However, the source of it is unknown. In Sonnet 130 the author, William Shakespeare introduces a speaker who is in love with a woman he refers to as his mistress. The speaker expresses his love for her through a sonnet, but unlike other authors of his time, Shakespeare writes his sonnet in a more unique and humorous way. Shakespeare’s excess use of negative similes and a mysterious tone change help convey the meaning of love on a deeper, more intimate level by showing that looks are not as important as one’s inner beauty. Shakespeare compares his mistress to several beautiful things, but the comparison is never in favor of the speaker’s lover, which shows how the sonnet

‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay are both sonnets that discuss companionship and a glimpse of the poets’ experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love which never seems to wither away according to Shakespeare while on the contrary, in ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” Millay feeds on the chaos between the ideal of love and its harsh reality, heartbreak. Both poets seem to be love struck but there is a significant difference in the two. I will compare and contrast ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I will also inquire and analyze why this particular form of poetry established different effects.

“Sonnet CXVI,” written by William Shakespeare, is an epic attempt to describe what true love is and what true love is not. Shakespeare utilizes numerous rhetorical devices, vivid imagery, and in depth expression to show that if love is true, it is constant and does not waver in the face of challenges or obstacles (Line 3). “Sonnet CXVI” is still read today due to the fact that it gives a beautiful representation of what real love should be like. Therefore, due to its meaning and expression, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet CXVI” should still be read today.

Love comes in many colors. The blood-crimson of lust and the jade-green of jealously are but two of the vast palate required to paint this inescapable human passion. William Shakespeare’s store of colors is unrivaled. No human failing, foible or foolishness escapes his gentle, comedic reproof. He equally enjoins his audience to venture as bravely as he does into the palpable horror of love gone amiss. In “OTHELLO,”“MACBETH,” and many more dramas, love’s fatal potential to provoke vengeance or the quest for earthly power is powerfully felt. These are epic investigations of love’s progression. A sonnet, however, is the equivalent of the modern short story. It is a snapshot of a single, significant experience. In two of Shakespeare’s sonnets – diverse in time and temperament, but complimentary in their conclusions – Shakespeare states his deepest feelings about the potential for a human love that is an un-judgmental commitment to the selfless nourishment of a partner. Sonnet 116, with a certainty and wisdom obtained from experience and suffering, marches out a rigorous and profound definition of true love. Sonnet 29 finds a soul in turmoil salvaged by an epiphany of understanding the power of true love to heal. By examining the perspective of the respective speakers, their individual progresses, the themes evoked and the poetic devices employed to compliment content this essay argues that for Shakespeare, true and enduring

Known as one of the greatest British poets, George Noel Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byron, became popular for his use of the English language and showing his romantic lifestyle. With his astounding use of writing, he goes down in history as a leader in the Romantic movement. Not only did he exemplify an important role model during this era of writing, but considered the most notorious and flamboyant poet from 1785 until 1830, when the Romantic Movement ended. Many of his poems published as satires and root back to his ability to express his thoughts about things going on in his life, specifically his childhood.

‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay are both sonnets that discuss companionship and a glimpse of each poet’s experiences. In ‘Sonnet 116’, Shakespeare illustrates how capability is weakened by its metaphysical stereotype and ideals such as, love, while on the contrary, in ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” Millay feeds on the chaos between the ideal of love and its harsh reality, heartbreak. Both poets seem to be love struck but there is a significant difference in the two. I will compare and contrast ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare and ‘What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I will also inquire and analyze why this particular form of poetry established different effects.

In Shakespeare’s Sonnets, the pain experienced emotionally and physically contributes to the realistic nature of his words. Specifically addressing the Dark Lady, the speaker expresses a more mature love unlike the relationship between him and the young man. Readers are warned about the dangers of lust in the love triangle, but the speaker is content with the Dark Lady’s affairs rather than the young man’s. In Sonnet 138, the speaker says, “On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed/But wherefore say not I that I am old?/Oh love’s best habit is in seeming trust” (8-10). In their relationship, love is therefore a mutual understanding of deception. The Dark Lady ignores that he is old and considers him to be young and the speaker ignores that she is cheating on him by not bringing up her faithfulness. What ties these two characters together is

Shakespeare, who wrote the sonnets in 1609, expresses his own feelings through his greatest work of literature. The theme of love in the poems reflect thoughts from the Renaissance period. Love is one of many components of Shakespeare’s life shown in the sonnets. Love can be defined in many ways other than a strong affection for a lover. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the concept of love can be seen through many uncommon means such as the love of life before death in “Sonnet 73,” love in marriage in “Sonnet 116,” love through sexual desire in “Sonnet 129,” and love through nature in “Sonnet 130,” proving that love can be expressed through many different feelings and emotions.