Internal Love Vs. External Love

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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The sonnets which I chose to write about were both written by William Shakespeare. The sonnets are; "When my love swears that she is made of truth," and "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun." This essay will be about those two sonnets. I will explain them, state the general theme behind them, and compare/contrast both sonnets. I will then conclude with my final thoughts.

In "When my love swears that she is made of truth," Shakespeare writes that he knows his love is lying about her faithfulness. He states later that it is all right, because he lies about his age and she knows that he is lying. They both know the other is being untruthful. "Lie" is a doubly denotative word in this sonnet. "Lie" means that he lies with her in bed, and it also refers to the lies they tell each other about themselves.

Shakespeare goes on to say that, love's best habit is in "seeming trust." This means that despite the fact that they know the other is lying, it is okay, because despite their faults they still need each other. However, in "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun," Shakespeare is pointing out his lovers unattractiveness. He later admits that despite her faults, he loves her for who she is, even though she is not very pleasing.

Despite all of Shakespeare's negative feelings for his love in "When my love swears that she is made of truth," he states he still loves her. One possible reason for this could be that, because he is old, he needs somebody to love him. Therefore, it does not matter that she cheats on him because he may have no one else. Shakespeare is blatantly indicating that he is using her. On the other hand,