Shakespeare's definition of love in sonnet 130.

Shakespeare's definition of love in sonnet 130.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

   As any she belied with false compare.

Shakespeare a great English poet, wrote about 154 sonnets and the sonnet 130 he wrote was
for his mistress, The dark lady. Her color complexion was not dark, she did some unpleasant
things to him that's why he mentioned her as a dark lady in some of his sonnets. Shakespeare described his dark lady in an exceptional way in his poems, not seen usually. The way Shakespeare depicts his mistress is described below:

Shakespeare tried to compare his mistress or rather say her beauty with different things. And
then he admitted the beauty of his mistress are of no match with the things that he compared. A
few examples are described below.

One cannot look at the sun for a long period because it will burn their eyes, but the eyes
of his mistress are nothing like the sun. They are not that brightening like the sun and he doesn’t
find that glimmer in the eyes of his mistress.

Compared to the valuable red coral he thinks his mistress’s lips are not a match, because her
lips are not that red and beautiful. And her breasts are also not like snow in color rather they are
dun, which is not beautiful in his eyes And he compared her hair with wires, which is not a good
compliment, he tried to portray her as an ugly woman.

Girls are known for their shyness and when they become emotional or feel shy their cheeks turn
red and often that thing is compared with a red rose. And their paleness is compared with a
white or colorless rose. But the poet cannot compare the cheeks of his mistress with any of the
roses, He may think that she is unworthy of comparing.

And often the smells of breathing in and out of a lady are compared with perfumes by their
lovers. But in this sonnet, Shakespear did not compare her mistress’s breath to perfumes.
Rather he compared them to “reeks”. Which refers to a bad smell. The perfumes are delightful,
there is no comparison between her mistress’s breaths and perfumes.

Whenever ones’ loved one speaks it’s always compared with music, which soothes the mind of the lover, but Shakespeare says music seems much more soother to him than her Mistresses’ voice.

In the next lines, Shakespeare compared his mistress to a Goddess. He has never seen the
movements of a goddess but he knows they walk on the air, but his mistress does not walk on
the air rather she walks on the ground. No match between her and a goddess
By reading this far we can say that Shakespeare used the negative qualities of his Mistress
throughout this poem, It seems like they are not on good grounds and he is trying to
sarcastically insult her. 

One can surely say, his mistress won’t be happy by reading this far.
Because Shakespeare did not write a single word of praising for her by this far. Girls want
attention, they desire to be praised, they want compliments, love, and affection from their loved
ones. But none of this was mentioned by Shakespear till now. In general, by all these talks no girl
will be happy.

But wait this is not the end. In the last epigrammatic couplet, he swears by heaven and says he
thinks he is still in love with her, he believes his love is of a rare kind. A love where the lover
does not falsely praise his loved one. Love does not mean to love the good qualities only but
also the bad qualities too. He loves her despite her bad qualities, he loves her personality not
her outer look. When her beauty will fade away he will be still there for her. And he will always
love her. If his mistress is someone who understands what true and pure love is then I believe
she will be happy after understanding that Shakespeare will be there for her at any moment, or
any situation despite her external beauty.

Indeed Shakespeare gave a non-traditional definition of beauty and love in his Sonnet 130. He
tried to prove his mistress does not have all the qualities he mentioned, But he has the eyes to
see the beauty in her because “BEAUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER.” If you
know how to look at someone to find beauty in them you will surely find them. External beauty is
not the real beauty and false exaggeration of love is not real love.