Sonnet 130

In William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130," the narrator expresses his resentment for his mistress. Through the course of the poem, the narrator mocks her but ultimately admits his love for her. Thus, it is evident that, based on the information in the poem through literary devices such as allusions, similes, and metaphors, although negative ideas and words may try to sway a person, emotions ultimately guide a person's actions.

            When the narrator begins to speak, he immediately attacks his mistress, noting that,  "If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun."(3) Here, this serves as a simile and an allusion. Because in Shakespearean times white and purity were synonymous for beauty, by calling her dun, or tainted, he is calling her both impure and degraded. He continues to mock her appearance by stating that she has black wires in her head, the opposite of white and therefore the archenemy of beauty. Furthermore, this could serve as a metaphor and allusion to Medusa with her gruesome appearance and evil nature. Later on, he mocks his mistress by stating she is not a goddess for she, "treads on the ground."(12) By saying she walks on earth, she is not on Olympus. These negative ideas, however, shift in the couplet, where the narrator notes their rare love and, "As any she belied with false compare."(14) Here, he acknowledges that all the petty insults made to her are incoherent and without value; to belie, or give a false image, would be pointless because he would only be fooling himself.

            Clearly, the narrator is a bitter lover vainly trying to cope with a past breaking point in the relationship. In trying to avoid the fallout of his relationship with the mistress, he actually grows closer to her than he ever did. This poses the interesting question of whether anything truly can be considered "wrong." Humans always try to look to the bright side of a situation, thereby removing any "bad" events from existence. Thus, at the end of the day, is it possible to acknowledge that someone has done something wrong, or is it human nature to always try to prove ourselves right?