Free College Essays - Shakespeares Sonnet 147 :: Sonnet essays

Sonnet 147   praise CXLVII My love is as a fever, longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease, Feeding on that which doth wield the ill, The uncertain sickly appetite to please. My reason, the cathartician to my love, Angry that his prescriptions ar not kept, Hath left me, and I desperate now approve Desire is death, which physic did except. Past cure I am, now reason is past care, And frantic-mad with forever unrest My thoughts and my discourse as madmens are, At random from the truth vainly expressd    For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright,    Who art as black as hell, as dark as night. PARAPHRASE OF SONNET CXLVII My love is like a fever, still longing, For that which feeds the disease, Feeding on that which prolongs the illness, every(prenominal) to please the unhealthy desires of the body. My reason, loves doctor, Angry that I do not come after his directions, Has left me, and desperate I find that desire Leads to death, which physic (reason) ordain not allow. Now reason is past caring, now I am past cure, And I am frantic with continual unrest My thoughts and my lecture are like a madmans, Lies foolishly uttered    For I thought you were moral and bright (shining as a star),    But you really are black as hell and dark as night.   Analysis Shakespeares vituperative attack upon the morality of his mistress exemplifies their tumultuous and perplexing relationship. The three quatrains epitome the poets inner struggle to cope with both his lovers infidelity and the embarrassing self-admission that he still desires her to gratify him sexually, even though she has been with other men. The poet yearns to understand why, in spite of the judgment of reason (5), he still is enslaved by her charms. involved by his own inexplicable urges, the poets whole being is at odds with his insatiable "sickly appetite" (4) for the dark lady. He deduces in the utmo st quatrain that he surely must be insane, for he calls his mistress dependable and moral when she obviously is neither. Not until later sonnets (150-1) do we see a change of tone and a cool-headed acknowledgment of the recklessness of the whole affair. In Sonnet 151, the poet admits that he cannot continue the relationship because it betrays his "nobler part" (6) i.