Journal 8: Shakespeare is changing his mind.
The character behind these sonnets is really looking past the physical features (sonnets 130, 131) and is not going to let anyone, even be it his closest friend, get in the way of his heart and the dark lady (133).We assume that his closest friend is the fair youth. At this point I can't really speculate if it is or not, what if Shakespeare had some close friend he didn't write about? Regardless, here comes the love triangle...
The persona Shakespeare is creating is quite serious and seems much more focused that the previous sonnets. This character definitely doesn't dwell on the physical. It's almost as he's saying that the lady is not only dark, but ugly. Perhaps ugliness is what makes her dark? In 130, all he is doing is comparing her to things that are more bright, more colorful, more delightful than her. Though the turning point is in line 9 with 'I love to hear her speak,...' his first admission of love for the dark lady even though he continues on with the comparisons. In 131:5-7, 'Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold/Thy face hath not the power to make love groan./to say they err I dare not be so bold,' he is still calling her ugly! Whether it be physical or sexual ugliness, I'm not sure. It is interesting that he refers to her as being dark, but says that 'Thou are the fairest adn most precious jewel.' 'Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place.' maybe it's his way of professing his love? In 133, hell or high water, Shakespeare is going to have the dark lady to himself. 'But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail;/Woe'er keeps me, let my heart be his guard;' right there he is saying let my heart be my friend's prison because my heart is not going to my friend anymore, it's going to the dark lady's and my friend cannot have either of us.
As for who Shakespeare is a writer, I believe he is brilliant. He's able to convey any of his points he wants to get across to the OOP. (Not neccessarily us, as the readers.) He really does have variety in his creativity. He started with fawning procreation sonnets, to obsession, to being jealous, back to being completely in love, to getting tired, to finally saying that it is over with, now to these dark lady sonnets. If what we have guess to be true (the fair youth as a man, etc) then Shakespeare really has a way of communicating and almost wearing his heart on his sleeve. Which brings me to thoughts of him as a lover. One word can sum it up: Passionate. If he could write 154 sonnets he would have to be passionate. Passionate about writing, the OOPs, love itself, words, etc. I really don't know how these three sonnets can soley explain the mind of Shakespeare... Perhaps he is getting more serious about his life and love. Maybe he's thinking that the dark lady would be more attainable that the fair youth had been? Maybe he is thinking that the dark lady will truely make him happy? I really have no clue, so with that, I am curious to keep reading these.
Megan BB
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When he refers to this other person, in line four, he writes "my sweet'st friend must be," it definitely seems as if he is talking about the oop from the prior sonnets. As far as the dark lady being ugly, I don't quite agree with that. Due to what is written in line 13, sonnet 131, "in nothing art thou black save in thy deeds." Basically, he is saying the only thing dark about her is what she does.
Funny thing, when you mention him wearing his heart on his sleeve, I almost wrote that in my blog as well.
Ugly could mean a lot of different things.
I can see where you don't quite agree with me about the dark lady being ugly. I suppose I didn't develop my thoughts as well as I could have. I still think, to some degree, that he is calling her ugly. After all the words he used to describe the fair youth, he put the fair youth up on a pedestal, and his words to describe/compare the dark lady - homely. Perhaps she is also ugly in the sense that she is coming across as a rotten bitch in 133 after the discussion we had in class.
Megan Baeth-Brison
Passionate or indecisive?
It cannot be debated that Shakespeare is a literary genius, and his writing is beautiful, but as for his subjects and varying emotions, I am beginning to suspect that he is at least a little neurotic. His emotions seem to be scattered all across the board with little to no resolution; I want to know what is going on!
I think though that Shakespeare is biased against the Dark Lady because of his love for the fair youth, and maybe that's why he sees her as ugly; he is blinded by the beauty of his first love.
-Hilary
An odd literary geinus...
Yeah, ironically the most famous poet of all time was a bit of a nutjob. His mastery poetry is quite stunning, though. Like you said, there is not debate there. I would have guessed before this class how odd some of his writings are. But I like the idea that you had about him being blinded by his first love. I guess if a man found other men to be especially attractive, maybe he wouldn't view women as very beautiful. I wonder why he fell for the dark lady in the first place...
I agree as well that
I agree as well that Shakespeare cannot be compared with any other author or poet.tO also agree that Shakespeare is , as you put it, blinded by the beauty of his past love. He doesn't seem terribly concerned with this dark lady, that's until this other person comes on the scene(the youth), then he just wants her to leave this other person alone and just keep him as her slave. if this were the youth that the lady is involved with then it's understandable that Shakespeare would become jealous and more animated in his writing and attitude toward this dark lady. Veronica Sparks