Serena Sinclair Discussion 3

I choose Sonnet Number 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare, because the speaker’s beloved is compared to a variety of other beauties in this sonnet, but never in the lover’s favor. Her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral, her breasts are dun-colored compared to white snow, and the hairs on her head are like black wires. In the second quatrain, William claims to have seen roses divided by color into red and white, but not in his mistress’s cheeks; and he claims that his mistress’s breath “reeks” less delightfully than perfume. He concedes in the third quatrain that, while he admires her voice, music “has a far more appealing sound,” and that, despite never having seen a deity, his mistress, unlike goddesses, walks on the earth. However, in the couplet, he also asserts that he considers his love to be “by heaven” as valuable “Like any, she belied with false compare,” that is, any love in which false comparisons were used to describe the beauty of the loved one. His cherished isn’t like nature’s most beautiful objects. She is who she is, not a lady endowed with divine qualities. The speaker was looking for a woman to express his feelings. If one has a companion who understands the slightest emotional impulses, there is no need for a goddess. Because he does not flatter her with false epithets, the speaker declares his love unique.