PLATONIC IDEALS OF LOVE Essay, Research Paper

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNET 116 AND SONNET 130 BOTH DESCRIBE LOVE IN DIFFERENT WAYS BUT BOTH SHOW THE IDEALS OF PLATONIC LOVE. THE THREE STAGES OF PLATONIC LOVE IS THE LOVE OF BODY, THE LOVE OF MIND AND THE LOVE OF SOUL.

SHAKESPEARE DISCUSSES THE LOVE, OR LACK THERE OF, BODY IN SONNET 130 BY SAYING THAT HIS LOVE DOES NOT NEED TO BE COMELY TO SIGHT FOR HIM TO BE HAPPY WITH HER. HE DESCRIBES HOW ACTUALLY UNATTRACTIVE SHE IS BY COMPARING HER HAIR TO “BLACK WIRES” AND BY SAYING HER EYES ARE “NOTHING LIKE THE SUN”. HE ALSO DESCRIBES HER BAD BREATH AND HER COLORLESS CHEEKS YET AT THE END HE SAYS HE CONSIDERS HER AS RARE AS ANY OTHER AND CONVEYS THE MESSAGE THAT HE IS HAPPY WITH HER. SONNET 116 ALSO STATES THAT BEAUTY IS NOT WHAT LOVE IS ALL ABOUT. IT SAYS “THOUGH ROSY LIPS AND CHEEKS WITHIN HIS BENDING SICKLE’S COMPASS COME.” THIS SHOWS THAT BEAUTY FADES ANPPPPPPPPPPD SHOWS THE BELIEF THAT LOVE MUST BE MORE THAN BEAUTY.

THE LOVE OF MIND IS DISCUSSED IN SONNET 130 WHEN SHAKESPEARE WRITES “I LOVE TO HEAR HER SPEAK, YET WELL I KNOW THAT MUSIC HATH A FAR MORE PLEASING SOUND.” THIS MEANS THAT HE IS CONTENT WITH HIS LOVE WHETHER OR NOT SHE SPEAKS HER MIND. IN SONNET 116 HE SAYS THAT HE DOES NOT WANT TO JUST MARRY SOMEONE FOR THEIR MIND BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE CHANGED OVER TIME AND “LOVE IS NOT LOVE WHICH ALTERS WHEN IT ALTERATION FINDS,”.

SONNET 116 SHOWS THAT LOVE IS NOT TRUE, PLATONIC LOVE UNLESS IT LASTS FOREVER, OR IS LOVE OF SOUL. THIS IS SHOWN IN LINES 11 AND 12, “LOVE ALTERS NOT WITH HIS BRIEF HOURS AND WEEKS, BUT BEARS IT OUT EVEN TO THE EDGE OF DOOM.” IN SONNET 130, SHAKESPEARE SHOWS A LOVE OF SOUL BY STATING THAT HIS LOVE IS NOT THOUGHT OF AS BEAUTIFUL NOR IS SHE INTERESTING BUT HE LOVES HER AND CHERISHES HER ALL THE SAME. HE MUST LOVE HER SOUL BECAUSE THE OTHERS CHARACTERISTICS OF PLATONIC LOVE DON’T SEEM IMPORTANT TO HIM.

PLATONIC LOVE IS SHOWN THROUGH BOTH OF SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS, 116 AND 130 EVEN THOUGH IN DIFFERENT WAYS.