In two of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Sonnet 116 and 130, he shows love in a different, yet interesting way through tone, imagery, and meaning of love. In these sonnets, he shows how love is forever, and describes the uniqueness of love. He shows that true, real love can overcome all obstacles, and that you should never give up on love.
In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare writes and anti-sonnet. He is writing the real version of love, because you cannot idealize love. This is a parody and the speaker is mocking the woman and her beauty. The speaker is saying how horrendous his mistress is, from her wire hair to her awful breath. “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks; and in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” (4-8). The tone is very criticizing, but he’s telling the brutal truth. She’s not beautiful like everyone else, but he loves the real her, and that’s all that matters, right? This sonnet ends with a couplet, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare.” (13-14). Meaning that she might not be as beautiful as all the other women, but that’s what real love is. The speaker accepts his mistress’s imperfections, and that’s all that one can ask out of their lover. That is true love.
In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare talks about how love isn’t love if you change someone. “Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove” (2-4). If you really loved someone, you would love them for who they truly are. If they have to change just to please you, it’s not worth it. When falling in love with someone, you’re supposed to accept every single flaw they have. Humans are perfect in their imperfections, and in order to have a long-lasting relationship, one must learn to love another for their faults. The love explained in this sonnet is that the love that they have is very rare, and can last forever. “Love is not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come; love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom” (10-12). These lines describe that the enemy of love is time, and that there will be impediments to marriage, but their love is so strong, that it will conquer all imperfections and impediments.
Shakespeare shows that no matter the imperfections, impediments, or problems, true love will always win in the end. He describes how beautiful love can be, and that you should accept someone for who they really are, because if you don’t, you will not be able to fully love that person. He also says that no love between two people is ever perfect, but that’s the beauty of love, loving someone’s imperfections no matter what.
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