William Shakespeare, born in 1564 and died in 1616, wrote one hundred and fifty-four sonnets during his life. Shakespeare's sonnets from 127 to 152 are said to be about the Dark Lady. Shakespeare seemed to have mixed feelings towards this Dark Lady who did not represent his true wife. (Absolute Shakespeare, 2005) This article will focus on Shakespeare's Sonnet 138, "When my love swears that truth is made." This Petrarchan sonnet has the rhyme scheme ABAB, CDCD in the octave and EFEF, GG in the sestet. The fourteen-line sonnet first appeared in William Jaggard's book "The Passionate Pilgrim." This article will argue against Edward A. Snow's article on "The Love of Comfort and Despair: A Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 138." Snow believes that Sonnet 138 transforms “cynicism and despair” into an “affirmative and idealistic” vision of romance (Snow, 462). However, this article opposes Snow's opinion on Sonnet 138 by passing a different judgment on the Shakespearean sonnet. The argument is that the sonnet expresses the refusal to acknowledge the truth and depicts the idea of ​​an imperfect relationship, as opposed to perfect love. The first two lines of the sonnet say: “When my love swears that she is made of truth/I believe her, though I know she lies” (Shakespeare, 1-2). In my opinion, these two lines testify to the author's knowledge of his mistress's infidelity. The author is aware of her deceptive ways; however, he claims to "believe her" and does not let her know that he is aware of her untruths. The language used by Shakespeare expresses a contented attitude with the situation of the relationship, that he has no desire to discuss or share his knowledge with his mistress. In contrast, Snow writes... middle of paper ...... the idea of ​​an imperfect relationship in Sonnet 138; this depiction of love is different from what we are used to seeing in other poems and plays. Perhaps Snow did not understand that this different representation of love is neither unpleasant nor painful, as long as the lovers are comfortable with each other. Works Cited “Absolute Shakespeare”. Absolute Shakespeare. NP, 2005. Web. November 20, 2013. .De Grazia, Margreta. “Interpreting Shakespeare’s Sonnets”. PLMA. 100.5 (1985). 810-812. JSTOR.Web.Mabillard, Amanda. “Shakespeare Online.” Shakespeare Online. NP, 2000. Web. November 20, 2013. .McIntosh, Hugh. “The social masochism of Shakespeare’s sonnets”. JHUP. 50.1 (2010).109-125. JSTOR.Web.Snow, Edward A. "The Love of Comfort and Despair: A Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnets." ELH. 47.3 (2007).462-483 JSTOR.Web.