Shakespeare's Sonnet # 138 Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138"

¶ … Shakespeare's Sonnet # 138 Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" provides audiences with the opportunity to get a more complex understanding of the speaker's relationship with the Dark Lady and concerning the insecurities that come to dominate his thinking as a result of him growing older.

It seems that this relationship has become platonic and it influenced the speaker to experience an emotional detachment as he concentrates on turning a blind eye to what goes on around him -- he simply prefers to ignore the fact that she lies to him and that she is cheating on him with other men. The sonnet actually puts across a psychological study with regard to ideas like love, adultery, and acceptance of one's position in the world.

The speaker focuses both on himself and his mistress in trying to provide audiences with a thorough account about their affair. Even with the fact that the two are still together, the poet cannot help but to acknowledge that she is cheating to him and, moreover, he believes that his condition is largely responsible for the situation they are facing. One of the mist intriguing concepts about the sonnet is the speaker's acceptance of the position he is in and of his mistress' thinking.

"When my love swears that she is made of truth, I do believe her (though I know she lies)" It appears that the poet abandoned any form of protest because he believes that there is nothing he can do. Even though he is well-acquainted with her "false-speaking tongue," he created an image of her in his head and simply considers that it would be wrong for him to expect anything more from her. The speaker himself does not hesitate to deceive his lover, further contributing to making matters confusing.

In a certain way, he believes that his deceiving actions are a response to his mistress' cheating. This seemingly makes it less disturbing for both of them to go through with their immoral activities. It is practically as if they are both familiarized with each-other's personality and accept each-other while also protesting through being cheaters. The sonnet presents the speaker as being guilty largely because of the fact that he wants to seem younger and less complex.

Similarly, his mistress is guilty for cheating on him in spite of their connection. This woman is well-aware that the poet's years of glory are behind him and that he is unlikely to excel in the future, but is reluctant to break off their relationship because she believes that there are still a series of benefits to be drawn from it. To a certain degree, the speaker actually seems to be happy when he considers a scenario in which his mistress thinks of him as of an inexperienced youth.

He later laments as he realizes there it would be impossible for her to ignore all of the evidence showing that he is no longer the impressive person he used to be.

"Although she knows my days are past the best." The sonnet virtually provides audiences with a paradox as both lovers feel connected to each-other, and, concomitantly, they both express disproval toward each-other's personality by doing everything they can in order to set boundaries that (in spite of their transparency) are masked with the purpose of making the relationship happen. This relationship has nothing to do with affection or trust but keeps on going for purposes that are somewhat difficult to understand.

It is probable that the two lovers struggle to ignore evidence standing right in front of them with the purpose to focus on their past selves. Not only are they reluctant to accept the fact that their relationship is not working, as they are also obsessed with lying to themselves with regard to their current condition. She is apparently unwilling to admit that she is not the honorable person she wants to be and he is unwilling to accept that growing older brings on a series of problems.

They (each of them, individually) practically reach the conclusion that it would be in the relationship's best interest for them to engage in adultery. "But wherefore says my love that she is young? And wherefore say not I, that I am old?" It seems that they love the idea of their relationship more than they love their actual relationship. This is why they are reluctant to abandon each-other: their relationship practically works as a projection of their dreams and as their ultimate expectation from life.

Ending it would practically mean that they have to accept who they are. From their perspective, this is equivalent to accepting defeat, which is basically an idea that they never want to be confronted with. One might even be inclined to believe that the protagonists are basically too afraid to accept reality. Furthermore, it is likely that they do not know how they should react given the circumstances and prefer to prolong the pain associated with accepting their position instead of actually confronting the truth.

Each of them is confident that the other is familiarized with the condition of their relationship. As a consequence, it seems that they both agreed to play a game in which there is nothing wrong with lying to the person one claims to love as long as the two individuals in a relationship are both putting across accepting attitudes with regard to the connection. When considering this relationship, lying by itself is a lie, as it does not exist.

It is likely that the two are also concerned about society's understanding of their relationship.