The Place 2 Be: Shakespeare's Sonnets

Critique of Sonnet 132

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

Theme: The Dark Lady
Content: Explicit confirmation that the Dark Lady is a woman with black complexion in this clever sonnet that develops the lady's blackness into mourning and centres on her 2 eyes.

Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain;

Pun on eyes and I.

The subject's eyes are portrayed as mourners dressed in black.

As in other sonnets on the Dark Lady the sound of black is echoed in other words that contain the letters c and/or k, especially the key word in the couplet: complexion.

The denial in the previous Dark Lady sonnets is continued in the first 2 quatrains of this sonnet: Knowing...not...Nor.

The many words in this sonnet that contain be grow and develop until they resolve into the couplet's beauty: be...Better...becomes...sober...become...beseem...beauty.

pretty ruth contains truth that develops into Q2's truly.

And truly, not the morning sun of heaven
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the even
Doth half that glory to the sober west,

grey cheeks of the east alludes to the complexion of the subject as in other sonnets about the Dark Lady.

The cardinal points of east and west are explicitly mentioned in this quatrain and "north" is hidden in Nor that. "South" might just be deliberately hidden in cheeks of.

Nor that full star also alludes to the North Star.

As those two mourning eyes become thy face.
O, let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me, since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.

The outward blackness of the lady is interpreted as mourning and is requested to reflect the feelings in her unseen heart.

Pun on morning and mourning as the traditional poetic motif of likening a subject's eyes to the sun is translated to mourners via the morning sun.

There are suitably 2 instances of the word eyes in this sonnet, as per Thine eyes and two mourning eyes.

There are also suitably 2 instances of the word to, as a pun on two.

grey cheeks of Q2 morphs into grace in Q3.

Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.

Possible pun on the author's name in will.

There are also suitably 2 instances of the word I in this sonnet, punningly mirroring the 2 eyes.

I swear also phonetically echoes eyes.

beauty is again declared to be black and others are declared foul who do not have the subject's complexion. This explicit reference to the subject's black complexion confirms that the subject is not just dark-haired or dark-eyed as some critics have commented, but a negro woman, or Indo/Arabic in ethnic origin.

No more mourning as the author triumphantly declares beauty to be black.