¶ … Shakespeare's Sonnet # 138
Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138"
William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" provides audiences with the opportunity to get a more complex understanding of the speaker's relationship with the Dark Lady and concerning the insecurities that come to dominate his thinking as a result of him growing older. It seems that this relationship has become platonic and it influenced the speaker to experience an emotional detachment as he concentrates on turning a blind eye to what goes on around him -- he simply prefers to ignore the fact that she lies to him and that she is cheating on him with other men. The sonnet actually puts across a psychological study with regard to ideas like love, adultery, and acceptance of one's position in the world.
The speaker focuses both on himself and his mistress in trying to provide audiences with a thorough account about their affair. Even with the fact that the two are still together, the poet cannot help but to acknowledge that she is cheating to him and, moreover, he believes that his condition is largely responsible for the situation they are facing. One of the mist intriguing concepts about the sonnet is the speaker's acceptance of the position he is in and of his mistress' thinking.
"When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her (though I know she lies)"
It appears that the poet abandoned any form of protest because he believes that there is nothing he can do. Even though he is well-acquainted with her "false-speaking tongue," he created an image of her in his head and simply considers that it would be wrong for him to expect anything more from her.
The speaker himself does not hesitate to deceive his lover, further contributing...
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