The theme of steadfastness and the eternal nature of love permeates every line of Shakespeare's 116th sonnet. Sonnet 116 “speaks of love in its most ideal form, praising the glory of lovers who met freely and formed a relationship based on trust and understanding” (Mabillard). It attempts to define love by indicating both what it is and what it is not. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayAccording to TG Tucker, Shakespeare strongly supported the idea of ​​marriage and even hinted at a wedding service with his play on words in the first two lines of the job. These lines are “echoes from the Book of Common Prayer”: “If any of you knows of any cause, or merely any obstacle, why these two should not be united in holy matrimony, you should declare it » (Davies). The first quatrain introduces the theme of true and unshakable love. The first two lines explain that true love, the “marriage of true spirits,” admits of no obstacles and does not change when a loved one changes; it is therefore unconditional. The third and fourth lines inform the reader what love is not. It does not “bend” or waver in the face of external pressures such as the temptation of other lovers, and it is not changeable (Sonnet). While the first quatrain states what love is not, the second quatrain focuses on what love is. Up to this point in the sonnet, Shakespeare's language and diction have been simple and relatively mundane. The second quatrain, however, consists of a major metaphor comparing love to "an ever fixed mark", or a star that guides every lost ship safely through "storms" and is "never shaken". The word “mark” is actually defined as “a beacon to warn sailors of dangerous pitfalls” (Mabillard). With this translation, the author presents love as an unshakable and invincible constant, fully aware of all the dangers that await the traveler, as well as a beacon that guides the traveler forward (Let). Moreover, this constant prevents the navigator of the ship of life from becoming the object of any harm, only to ultimately put himself in the face of danger to protect the beloved traveler. “Storms,” or storms on a ship, also symbolize the storms that can arise within a relationship, showing that true love “is a steady eye that looks at trouble and does not lose confidence” in the relationship (Explanation ). , the speaker asserts that the value of this love is unfathomable. It cannot be measured by human means, like height or the stars, and is therefore beyond human understanding. The author's interpretation of true love is practically "cerebral" and therefore remains a mystery because the real value of love cannot be known (Mabillard). The final quatrain begins with another powerful but simple statement: “Love is not a fool of time.” The weight of this opening transcends for the reader the sense of passion the speaker must feel. The rhythm and varied tone of the poem, however, are balanced, preventing the flow from seeming too heavy and instead adding to the beauty of the sonnet. This quatrain continues to tell the reader what love is not. Love is not “subject to change over time” (Sonnet), but “survives time itself despite the diminution of physical beauty by time” (Davies). It is also important to note that tense is capitalized in this line, signifying the importance of the argument and the role that tense plays. The tenth line consists of the speaker stating that beauty iswill bend “in the compass of his sickle will come”. This may refer to the previous metaphor in the second quatrain, in which Love is depicted as a constant star, guiding everyone through life. The sickle of the compass is similar in that it also serves as a guide for the lost ship to return to a safe haven. Or perhaps the “sickle” (a curved blade or bow) is that of the Grim Reaper, a popular symbol representing death and the passage of time. Since beauty is "depicted as bending contrary to the inflexibility of true love" (Davies), this phrase can also be interpreted as referring to the Grim Reaper's sickle which "ravages beauty's rosy lips and cheeks" (Sonnet ). Love may fall into this Reaper arc, but although physical attraction wanes, true love will not. In the eleventh line, the word “alter” appears for the third time, reiterating the clearly significant point that love is completely unconditional and not dependent on circumstances. . The simplicity and directness of this line is what makes it so dramatic; this love is extreme, it will not change over the hours and weeks, and is not temporary. The last line of the third quatrain is beyond human comprehension. The love the author speaks of, true love, will overcome and survive death, “to the brink of misfortune” because it is immutable, permanent and even immortal. In the final couplet of the sonnet, the speaker announces quite bluntly that he is certain that everything he writes is correct. “He insists that this ideal is the only love that can be called true” (Sonnet) and leaves no room for compromise. Either love will carry all these qualities and values, or it is simply not love at all; there is no middle ground. If an error is found in his statements, then he declares that he does not know what he is talking about, that he never wrote a word and finally that no man could ever have loved. This poem is “the extreme ideal of romantic love.” Nothing can change or harm him, he will not fade with time, he is not subject to death and he will admit no fault (Sonnet). The way Shakespeare used rhythm and variation of time, and how he framed the passion of the poem within the disciplined rhetorical structure of the sonnet, adds an essential key to the impact that the poet's words impress on the drive. The sonnet uses three quatrains, each with a powerful opening remark to present three arguments about true love, giving an almost legalistic appeal to the nature of true love. The distinct division of each quatrain also gives a natural pause to think about what has been said before moving on to the next idea. Ironically, the poem uses simple words and phrases and does not state any new ideas about love. This proves that it is not necessarily what Shakespeare says, but how he phrases his thoughts that adds to the total effect. Because the poem contains so many simple statements, it contrasts greatly with the major metaphor and imagery with the simple, prominent diction of the rest of the poem. Shakespeare concludes Sonnet 116 with typical irony. However, the use of "three negatives (never, nor, no) stack together to create a definitive closure, reinforced by the sonnet's rhyming couplet" (Explanation). Shakespeare's goal in writing the sonnet is to inform the reader of what does and does not constitute true love, making several points throughout the work. The theme of the sonnet revolves around the idea of ​​the constancy of love and how true love does not waver in the face of external pressures (Davies). This central idea is).