The Significance of Shakespeare’s Regards Toward His Mistress in “Sonnet 130” Essay Example

the theme or tone changes in a surprising way to the audience (Shmoop Editorial Team). In this sonnet Shakespeare uses a volta at the end of the sonnet to show the significance of his love for his mistress. The beginning of Shakespeare's work focuses on her imperfections by using similes to compare her unconventional looks to the classic beauty she is expected to posses. This provides a strong contrast to the line, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare. The sonnet plays with poetic conventions in which, his mistress’s eyes are compared with the sun (1), or her lips with coral, and her cheeks with roses yet, instead of complimenting her with these comparisons he states how she is nothing like these descriptions. Using the volta switches the reader's point of view from Shakespeare's distaste towards his mistress to her being conveyed as lovely as any women. Shakespeare's use of the volta is placed at the end of sonnet compared to being placed near the middle to add emphasis to the rhyming couplet.

By doing this, Shakespeare was able to add more unflattering comparisons, making his resulting view of his mistress much more shocking to the reader. This leads to a lasting effect on his readers and adds to the significance of the line. Having the line cleverly situated at the end of the poem makes for an interesting read for the reader. Like any typical book you read, a story usually follows the same format: introduction, rising action, climax, and falling action. Shakespeare's sonnet follows this structure.

His introduction being him introducing his mistress, while the rising action is stated through his unflattering

similes. The line, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare" is acting as the climax. One could argue that the climax is the most important element of a story because it is known as the most intense or exciting part . This line shows excitement because of the sudden change in Shakespeare's point of view. It acts as a decisive moment for Shakespeare in the eyes of the readers.

This becomes intriguing to the readers because the poem quickly shifts to a love poem and emphasizes a way of love that all women wish a man could provide. This love is shown by Shakespeare through the way he states how a women needs not to be told unseemly lies to be loved like a women should be loved. Many would enjoy reading this sonnet because of Shakespeare's final declaration of love at the end of the poem. The line, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare" reveals a sincere depiction of his mistress by emphasizing unflattering aspects about her, which adds importance to his high regard and unconditional love for her.

Yes, his mistress is not as beautiful as things found in nature, yet Shakespeare loves her nonetheless. In the closing couplet, he emphasizes the fact that she is as extraordinary as any other woman described with exaggerated or false comparisons. It is a blunt, but charming sincerity that make "Sonnet 130" a very memorable poem.