Sonnet 138 Analysis
This is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 analysis.
In lines 1 and 2, the speaker tells how his lover promises that she is honest and faithful to him. The speaker believes her even though he knows that she is lying. In lines 3 and 4, the speaker tells the readers that he pretends to believe his lover so she will think of him as naive and clueless. He acts like this so she will think that he doesn’t know the realities of the world.
In lines 5 and 6, the speaker wants his lover to think that he is young and inexperienced even though she knows that he is getting older and learning more. In lines 7 and 8, the speaker says that he only pretends to believe his lover’s lies. He also brings up that both of them are lying and being disloyal to each other.
In line 9, the speaker questions why his lover doesn’t admit to her dishonesty. In line 10, the speaker questions why he doesn’t admit to her that he isn’t gullible and understands everything. In lines 11 and 12, he answers himself saying that the best part about loving someone is the fake trust. He also says that old lovers don’t like to tell their ages.
In lines 13 and 14, the speaker concludes that he lies to her and she lies to him. They are unhurt by each other’s dishonesty for the sake of their relationship.
The message of this sonnet is that it is fine to lie to avoid hurting feelings and preserve relationships. The couple in this sonnet choose to be blind to each other’s lies. They believe that it is better to avoid talking about the truth as that will cause more conflict. I disagree with this because honesty builds the foundation of a relationship. Without honesty and loyalty, relationships can become very toxic. The truth cannot be avoided and this couple won’t be able to live in their fantasy of lies forever. To build healthy relationships, one should avoid lying and work through conflicts, instead of ignoring the truth.