The poet mocked his mistress as he did not compare her to beautiful objects. Instead he stated that anything in this world surpasses his mistresses beauty. “And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” In these lines the poet states that perfumes smell much sweeter than his mistresses breath, her breathe reeks in comparison to perfume. This would be extremely offensive and would definitely be seen as the mistress being mocked for her imperfections. “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound.” In these lines, the poet mocks the voice of his mistress, saying that music is a far more pleasing sound. From these examples one can extract that the poet definitely mocked his mistress.
Shakespeare moves away from the norm at the time. His poem was completely the opposite to a Petrarchan sonnet. Instead of romanticising his mistress, he mocks her looks. Instead emphasising and exaggerating her looks, he mocks her imperfections. Normally, Petrarchan sonnets express and exaggerate their mistresses’ looks by saying that their beauty surpasses any object. Shakespeare does the opposite by saying any object surpasses the beauty of his mistress. In the first line, “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”, Shakespeare goes against the grain by saying his mistresses eyes are nothing close to the beauty and brightness of the sun. If this was a Petrarchan sonnet the poem would likely start with, “My mistress’s eyes are far more beautiful than the sun”. In the second line, Shakespeare speaks of how coral is far more beautiful and luscious than the lips of his mistress. Yet again we see how Shakespeare has done the complete opposite of a Petrarchan sonnet (this poem is a Shakesperean sonnet) as he has mocked his mistress instead of idolising her
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