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Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130
her cheeks. Let’s admit her breath is not a sweet perfume. However, by stating these obvious facts he can not persuade his eyes to admit she is not attractive. Even though his mistress lacks all these qualities he is still fascinated by her. Then in the third quatrain, for the first time, there is a partially positive answer - As for her voice, yes, I must say I love the sound of it. The effect of the statement is lessened immediately by proclaiming the sound of music even more pleasant, but the verse is a breaking point of the sonnet, because one good quality of the mistress is mentioned. It seems as if the poet changes his view of the situation. While in the sonnets 137 and 148 he blames his eyes for creating a false picture, in 130 he assumes that the problem is not with him or his mistress but with the exaggerated comparisons. She is a real woman, and therefore cannot be compared with a goddess or nature. In the following verse, he expresses this idea by claiming - I do not know about you, but I personally have never seen a goddess, so I’m ignorant of the way she may move. My mistress treads on the ground, as all people do and I can see no reason why she should not. The couplet denies everything negative that was said in the quatrains. The poet suddenly refers to his mistress as “my love“.
I can think of three explanations of the couplet (and the whole sonnet) –
1) Although my mistress is not beautiful, I love her and therefore she is as worthy as any beauty praised in the conventional sonnets. This explanation can be supported by the sonnet 141, where a similar idea is expressed:
In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note,
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongues tune delighted,
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone.
2) I know my mistress does not have the features, which are considered beautiful, but I like the look of her and I think she is not inferior to the women who have golden hair and white breasts. Beauty is just a matter of taste. There is no reason why all women should look the same.
3) My mistress is a real woman, not an idealized being of unearthly beauty. I love her just as she is. She does not need to be “belied with false compare“ And, actually, no living woman does correspond to the conventional description of a beloved lady. Poets only praise them inadequately. My love is possibly even truer than theirs because it is real, not artificially painted.
The refusal of “painting“ is another motif that occurs in Shakespeare’s works –
In Loves Labour’s Lost, the Princess says:
Nay, never paint me now: Where fair is [next page]