ºÝºÝߣ

Editor's Notes

• #2: Shakespeare¡¯s Sonnet 121 is an interesting piece of self-reflection, and as such many people interpret it incorrectly. Weiser states that the previous interpretations of the sonnet have the problem of looking at it as a single, explicit statement. He believes that the sonnet isn¡¯t a ¡°protest¡±, a ¡°defense¡±, or a ¡°claim¡±, but rather an article of self-discovery. In other Shakespeare Sonnets it is easy to identify the theme, and to apply the ¡°theme and variations¡± method of analysis; however, this method does not work for Sonnet 121. (Weiser , 1978) We can see from the very first line, a comparison of unknowns, that the theme is hard to identify.
• #3: ¡°'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,¡± The meaning of the phrase is unclear and launches you into complicated thought that Weiser compares this to a voices in Elizabethan ¡°divided music¡± comparable to a Fugue where many thoughts are heard at the same time and contrast one another. (Weiser, 1978) Going into the next lines we can start to gain a sense of what ¡°vile¡± means within the context of the sonnet.
• #4: The rest of the quatrain goes onto explain that it is better actually be immoral than for others to perceive immorality falsely. Weiser takes the quatrain and inverses it to so that the first stanza is relocated at the end: (2) When not to be receives reproach of being, (3) And the just pleasure lost which is so deemed (4) Not by our feeling but by others' seeing. (1) [Then] ¡®Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,This is a more logical arrangement and this shows that the first line is put there by Shakespeare to show that the line isn¡¯t a unifying theme, but instead is a ¡°hypothetical conclusion¡±. (Weiser, 1976)
• #5: The second quatrain is a pair of two line questions: (5) For why should others' false adulterate eyes (6) Give salutation to my sportive blood? (7) Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, (8) Which in their wills count bad what I think good?Weiser shows that these questions help the reader to understand the first quatrain better. The meaning of ¡°vile¡± starts to become clearer in the context of these related adjectives: ¡°false-adulterate-sportive-frailer.¡± This quatrain also helps elaborate the conditions in stanzas two through four. He shows that the conditional clause line two ¡°When not to be receives reproach of being,¡± was objective and showed injustice without any explanation. But in the second quatrain the speaker argues that the ¡°reproach¡± comes from others who believe him to be ¡°vile¡± or immoral without cause. The speaker seems to have bitterness for the established and inflexible system in which people have values in which they blame others without understanding. (Weiser, 1978) Weiser reiterates that there hasn¡¯t been anything close to a theme in the first 8 lines and that it has been the reader gaining a clearer view of the speaker¡¯s views.
• #7: The progression continues in the next quatrain (Weiser, 1978):(9) No, I am that I am, and they that level(10) At my abuses reckon up their own;(11) I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel.(12) By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown,Weiser points out that this quatrain starts out with ¡°No¡±, which resolves the previous questions brought about in the sonnet. After describing a condition, questioning injustice, the speaker finally shows his defiance. Weiser goes as far to say that his ¡°No¡± suggests that corrupt judges should be rejected as immoral. This ¡°No¡± also accomplishes the goal of preparing for the shortest complete statement in the whole sonnet: ¡°I am that I am.¡± Which brings the sonnet to its climax, in which the sentence length has been shortened from four lines, then to two lines, and finally to six words. (Weiser, 1978) Weiser notes that in line eleven is the only statement where moral judgment has not been fixed: ¡° I may be straight though they themselves be bevel.¡± And that the meaning of ¡°may be¡± should be taken as ¡°may still be¡± or ¡°may remain¡±, since it is unlikely for the speaker to cast doubt on his own innocence.
• #9: We go on to the last two lines:(13) Unless this general evil they maintain:(14) All men are bad, and in their badness reign.Landry points out that line fourteen gives an antithesis the traditional view of man¡¯s nature. He adds that it is unthinkable for the speaker to believe this generalization, and that it reduces the statement to absurdity. (Weiser, 1978) Weiser shows the range of the sonnets meaning by outlining it into the speakers thought development. The first quatrain is a general description of evil and that it seems to be better to be evil than innocent. In the second quatrain the sonnet becomes more personal where the speaker wonders if there is any reason for people to be so corrupt. The third quatrain shows the first point of decisiveness and rejects those who believe others corrupt without reason. These quatrains are described by Weiser as an ¡°unparaphrasable¡± series of thoughts. Weiser believes that this is about the speaker identifying himself. Unlike Landry who believes that theme is a contrast to the last line and that ¡°all men are good and in their virtue reign.¡± Weiser believes the main line is ¡°I am that I am¡± and that the poem is about self-discovery rather than a single theme.