Esame Letteratura inglese magistrale, analisi sonetti e opere di Shakespeare, prof. Lucking, Shakespeare

Shakespeare's sonnets

Shakespeare's sonnets comprise 154 poems in sonnet form that were published in 1609, but likely written over the course of several years. Evidence for their existence long preceding publication comes from a reference in Francis Mere's 1598 Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, where his allusion to Shakespeare's might indicate that the poet preferred not to make these works public. It is unclear whether the 1609 publication, at the hands of a certain Thomas Thorpe, was from an authorized manuscript of Shakespeare's; it is possible that the sonnets were published without the author's consent, perhaps even without his knowledge.

Mysteries and debate

This is but one of the mysteries of Shakespeare's sonnets. Another, which continues to spur debate among literary scholars today, is the identity of the publication's dedicatee (dedicatario), the collection's "onlie begetter," a Mr. W. H. Speculation largely vacillates between two main candidates:

• Mr. William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke;
• Mr. Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton.

Both possibilities are tenable, as both were men of means and of literary interest enough to be patrons to Shakespeare. In fact, the poet dedicated other works to each: his First Folio to Herbert and his Venus and Adonis and Lucrece to Wriothesley. Those who favor one man or the other draw on circumstantial evidence concerning his life and character, such as the amicable terms on which Shakespeare is known to have been with Wriothesley, or events in Herbert's life that may be intimated in the exploits of the sonnets' "fair lord."

Recurring characters

The fair lord is one of three recurring characters in the sonnets, together with the dark lady and the rival poet. The real-world referents of these persons are yet another locus of controversy. Some critics suggest that the fair lord and the collection's dedicatee are one and the same, while others disagree. Still others question the autobiographical nature of the sonnets, arguing that there is no hard proof that their content is anything but fictional.

These mysteries and others, including the ordering of the sonnets, the date of their composition, and seeming deviations from the otherwise rigid format (one sonnet has 15 lines, another only 12; sonnets 153 and 154 do not fit well in the sequence), have generated an abundance of scholarly criticism over the years, and the dialogues they provoke remain highly contentious to this day. The 1609 publication of Shakespeare's sonnets is today referred to as the "Quarto" and remains the authoritative source for modern editions.

The sonnet form

A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter (that is, in lines ten syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable). The sonnet form first became popular during the Italian Renaissance, when the poet Petrarch published a sequence of love sonnets addressed to an idealized woman named Laura. Taking firm hold among Italian poets, the sonnet spread throughout Europe to England, where, after its initial Renaissance, “Petrarchan” incarnation faded, the form enjoyed a number of revivals and periods of renewed interest.

In Elizabethan England (the era during which Shakespeare’s sonnets were written) the sonnet was the form of choice for lyric poets, particularly lyric poets seeking to engage with traditional themes of love and romance. (In addition to Shakespeare’s monumental sequence, the Astrophel and Stella sequence by Sir Philip Sydney stands as one of the most important sonnet sequences of this period.) Sonnets were also written during the height of classical English verse, by Dryden and Pope, among others, and written again during the heyday (apogeo) of English Romanticism (Wordsworth, Shelley, and John Keats). Today, the sonnet remains the most influential and important verse form in the history of English poetry.

Types of sonnets

Two kinds of sonnets have been most common in English poetry, and they take their names from the greatest poets to utilize them:

• The Petrarchan sonnet: is divided into two main parts, called
  • The octave: is eight lines long, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of ABBAABBA, or ABBACDDC.
  • The sestet: occupies the remaining six lines of the poem, and typically follows a rhyme scheme of CDCDCD, or CDECDE.

The octave and the sestet are usually contrasted in some key way: for example, the octave may ask a question to which the sestet offers an answer.

• The Shakespearean sonnet: the form of sonnet utilized throughout Shakespeare’s sequence, is divided into four parts.
  • The first three parts are each four lines long, and are known as quatrains, rhymed ABAB;
  • The fourth part is called the couplet, and is rhymed CC.

The Shakespearean sonnet is often used to develop a sequence of metaphors or ideas, one in each quatrain, while the couplet offers either a summary or a new take on the preceding images or ideas.

In many ways, Shakespeare’s use of the sonnet form is richer and more complex than this relatively simple division into parts might imply. Not only is his sequence largely occupied with subverting the traditional themes of love sonnets (the traditional love poems in praise of beauty and worth, for instance, are written to a man, while the love poems to a woman are almost all as bitter and negative as Sonnet 147) he also combines formal patterns with daring and innovation. Many of his sonnets in the sequence, for instance, impose the thematic pattern of a Petrarchan sonnet onto the formal pattern of a Shakespearean sonnet, so that while there are still three quatrains and a couplet, the first two quatrains might ask a single question, which the third quatrain and the couplet will answer.

Shakespeare's sonnets summary

The sonnets are traditionally divided into two major groups:

• The fair lord sonnets (1-126): these sonnets explore the narrator's consuming infatuation with a young and beautiful man. The narrator is tormented as he struggles to reconcile the uncontrollable urges of his heart with his mind's better judgement, all the while in a desperate race against time. The sonnets begin with the narrator's petition to the fair lord, exhorting him to preserve his beauty for future generations by passing it on to a child. This theme is developed until sonnet 18, where the narrator abandons it in favour of an alternative plan to eternalize the fair lord's beauty in his verse. But it is not long before the narrator's mellifluous depictions of the fair lord's beauty are replaced with the haunting lament of unrequited love. The narrator grows increasingly enamoured with the fair lord, eventually becoming emotionally dependent upon him and plagued by the inability to win his heart. The narrator is further distressed by the incessant passing of time, and he fears the detriment time inevitably will bring to the fair lord's youthful beauty. The narrator's emotions fluctuate between love and anger, envy and greed. We find poignant examples of the narrator's jealousy in the rival poet sonnets (79-86), where the fair lord's attention has been caught by another. The narrator's fragile psyche collapses in bouts of self-deprecation as he agonizes over the thought of forever losing the object of his affection. In sonnet 87, the narrator bids the fair lord farewell - but his heartache long persists. The remainder of the fair lord sonnets are characterized by the vicissitudes of the narrator's emotional well-being. After his parting with the fair lord in sonnet 87, the narrator grows introspective, waxing philosophical as he begins to probe the very fabric of love. Throughout these developments we are made privy to the narrator's mounting apprehension that his time is running short. Finally, in sonnet 126, his love matured and yet still beautiful, the narrator points out that the fair lord too will one day meet his doom.
• The dark lady sonnets (127-154): these sonnets engage his lustful desire for a woman who is not his wife. This group of sonnets dealing with the narrator's irresistible attraction to a dark and beautiful woman. Here the allure is not of love but of lust, and the narrator is torn between his hunger for the woman and his disgust at the sinfulness of carnal desire. The dark lady is described as freely promiscuous, the epitome of lustful endeavour. Drawn by and at the same time repelled by her darkness, the narrator once again reverts to meditative mind-wandering to cope with his situation. In the end, the narrator's lust is expressed as an incurable disease, a burning sensation that can only be quenched, if temporarily, by the eyes of the dark lady.

Character list

Fair lord

Sonnets 1-126 tell the story of the narrator's unrelenting affection for a young and beautiful man, a "fair lord," to whom these sonnets are addressed. The absence of explicit identifying characteristics has given way to much controversy over the fair lord's real-world analogue - if any. Assuming that the sonnets are indeed autobiographical (an assumption not given credence by some) and that the characters described therein do in fact have mundane counterparts, two prime contenders have been put forth for the role of the sonnets' fair lord. The first is Mr. William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, a patron of the arts. The second candidate is Mr. Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton. Many critics do associate the fair lord with this Mr. W. H., as the fair lord appears in the sonnets not only as the object of the narrator's adoration but also as the financial benefactor of his work. The most intriguing facet of the relationship between the narrator and his fair lord is the plethora of homoerotic undertones in the sonnets. Scholars are divided as to whether the narrator's love for his fair lord was purely Platonic in nature or whether it was in fact something more. It is well known that homosexuality was a matter of taboo in Shakespeare's society, which may account for the poet's unwillingness to publish his sonnets for the public.

Rival poet

The rival poet makes his first appearance in sonnet 21, but does not become definitively present until sonnets 79-86, where he emerges as the poet's competitor in the pursuit of his fair lord's affection. Scholars have also pondered the identity of this rival poet between two likely candidates:

• Christopher Marlowe: was Shakespeare's immediate predecessor as the foremost dramatist of the Elizabethan era, and it is reasonable to assume a measure of professional rivalry between the two. Marlowe is also frequently described as having been a homosexual, which fits conveniently with the rival poet's attraction to the fair lord as an inspiration for his work.
• George Chapman: alleged references in the sonnets to various of Chapman's writings lead many to believe that he is indeed the rival poet who vies for the fair lord's attention.

In any case, the figure of the rival poet is haunting for the sonnets' narrator, who feels disdain for his inability to keep the fair lord as his own.

Dark lady

The dark lady featured in sonnets 127-154. The dark lady's adjective appears to carry both a literal (as in dark features) and a figurative (as in a dark personality) significance, the latter being exemplified in her less than scrupulous sexual escapades. The sonnets allude to her promiscuity. It has been suggested that the dark lady is a married woman who engages in adulterous relationships, both with the narrator and with other men, among whom the fair lord may be included (see sonnet 133). It has also been suggested that the dark lady is a prostitute of African descent.

The question of the true identity of the dark lady has spawned a very wide cast of candidates.

• Mary Fitton, a maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, who is known to have had an extramarital affair with William Herbert; not surprisingly, it is particularly those who believe William Herbert to be the sonnets' fair lord who also argue the case for Mary Fitton as their dark lady.
• The poet Emilia Lanier, who was the mistress of one of Shakespeare's patrons. Lanier, of Italian descent, was described as having dark features; her father having been a musician, it is also conceivable that she had some musical talent, which would align her well with the instrument-playing dark lady of sonnet 128.

Numerous other candidates have been named, each with her own particular allure - and incongruity. The identity of the dark lady, as with those of the fair lord and the rival poet, will likely remain unresolved.

Themes

The ravages of time

Shakespeare's sonnets open with an earnest plea from the narrator to the fair lord, begging him to find a woman to bear his child so that his beauty might be preserved for posterity. The poet is lamenting the ravages of time and its detrimental effects on the fair lord's beauty, seeking to combat the inevitable by pushing the fair lord to bequeath his exquisiteness unto a child. By sonnet 18 the poet appears to have abandoned this solution in favor of another: his verse. But the ravages of time return to haunt the narrator: in sonnet 90, the poet characterizes time as a dimension of suffering, urging the fair lord to break with him "if ever, now"; "Give not a windy night a rainy morrow," he writes, pleading with him to end the desperation of hopeful unrequited love. The theme resurfaces throughout the sonnets in the narrator's various descriptions of himself as an aging man. It has also been suggested that the poet implies that he is balding in sonnet 73; such an interpretation fits well with the idea that Shakespeare is in fact the narrator of the sonnets, as extant portraits of Shakespeare show the poet to have been balding in his later years.

Platonic love vs. carnal lust

The divide between the fair lord sonnets and the dark lady sonnets is also a divide between two forms of interpersonal attraction. While the narrator of the sonnets is clearly infatuated with both the fair lord and the dark lady, the language he uses to describe these infatuations shows them to be of disparate natures. The lack of explicit sexual imagery in the fair lord sonnets has led most scholars to characterize this infatuation as an example of Platonic love, i.e., a form of amorous affection bereft of any sexual element. Meanwhile, the dark lady sonnets are replete with sexual imagery, implying an attraction based largely on carnal lust. The poet seems to glorify the former while condemning the latter; his heart is at odds with his libido. It might be argued that this very incompatibility between the two distresses the narrator most as he learns of their affair.

Selfishness and greed

The themes of selfishness and greed are prevalent throughout the sonnets as a whole, emerging most perceptibly in the narrator's hypocritical expectation of faithfulness from the fair lord and the dark lady. The poet seems at times to advance a double standard on the issue of faithfulness: he is unfaithful himself, yet he condemns, is even surprised by, the unfaithfulness of others. The rival poet sonnets (79-86), for example, capture the poet's jealousy of his fair lord's having another admirer; dark lady sonnets 133-134 and 144 do the same, and they may even include a reference to an affair between her and the fair lord that perhaps was alluded to previously in sonnets 40-42. (For this reason and others, it is sometimes suggested that the ordering of the sonnets does not wholly parallel the actual chronology of the events they describe.) Although the narrator does indeed chastise himself for his own unfaithfulness, perhaps in reference to his wife, his distress at the unfaithfulness of those with whom he himself has been unfaithful makes him out as wanting to have his cake and eat it too.

Self-deprecation and inadequacy

Self-deprecatory language frequently appears regarding the poet's various inadequacies, in particular his ability to keep his fair lord's interest. In sonnet 76 the poet basically calls himself a bore. The poet's self-deprecation continues as he blames himself for much of that which he disapproves of both in the fair lord and in the dark lady. He himself is the cause of their abandoning him; his will is inadequate for resisting the temptations of Love.

Homoerotic desire

Although a fair number of scholars argue that the sonnets do not reflect any intimation of homosexual desire whatsoever on the part of the narrator, others find sonnets 1-126 rife with homoerotic undertones--at times appearing as explicit expressions of the narrator's love for the fair lord. In sonnet 20, for example, the poet expressly laments the fact that Nature fashioned the fair lord with male genitalia ("she prick'd thee out"). In sonnet 29, the narrator bemoans his "outcast state," perhaps a direct reference to a homoerotic desire he fears cannot be accepted by society. Still, just as it is intellectually necessary to confront the idea that homoerotic desire is prevalent to some extent in the sonnets, it is incumbent on readers not to let the imagination go astray.

Scholars who accept that homoerotic undertones are present in the sonnets are, nevertheless, divided regarding what this desire really means. Unlike the sonnets featuring the dark lady (127-154), the fair lord sonnets contain no explicit reference to sexual desire; even if the narrator lusts for the fair lord, it is debatable whether this lust has as its goal any act of sexual consummation.

Financial bondage

Throughout the sonnets there is considerable imagery of financial debt and obligation, bondage and transaction. Many scholars are convinced that the fair lord is not only the object of the poet's affection but also his financial benefactor. Such speculation has led to the identification of the fair lord with the begetter of the sonnets, Mr. W. H. Although this argument is difficult to prove, it certainly has its merits.

Support for the hypothesis that the dark lady of the sonnets was in fact a prostitute comes in part from sonnet 134, where the language includes "mortgaged," "forfeit," "bond," "statute," "usurer," "sue," "debtor," and "pays," although it could also be argued that the narrator is merely describing the dark lady as a whore out of jealousy of her affair with the fair lord.

Colour symbolism

This theme emerges m