Compare and contrast - Essay Example

Nonetheless, Shakespeare’s portrayal of love differs between his works. For instance, within the sonnets, there are various complex and well articulated emotions and ideas centered on the idea of love. Shakespeare wrote each sonnet in a distinctive style with differing tones supporting the common theme. A number of distinct dissimilarities are notable in contrasting Shakespeare’s sonnets numbered 130 and 138. The two sonnets show noteworthy variance in their portrayal of the meaning of love, as well as the attitude and style with which Shakespeare wrote them.

Both sonnets define exceptional and contrasting perceptions of love, which are exceedingly clear when evaluate against one another. Sonnet 130 exemplifies a total change in pace compared to the previous sonnets. Shakespeare wrote sonnet 130 with a comedic tone, which articulated the central idea of love. Shakespeare’s writing style towards sonnet 130 was relaxed using a reader friendly tone making it less cumbersome than other sonnets. Sonnet 130 consists of immense quantities of imagery, which attempt to poke fun at the classical and rigid definitions of love commonplace in most works of the time.

Rather than, compare love to conventional images such as strength and beauty, sonnet 130 contrasts these images with the notion of love; thus reaching a realistic and rather humorous description of love. Shakespeare starts by succinctly establishing the poem’s realistic tone by noting that the mistress’ eyes were quite dissimilar from the sun (Shakespeare 1). Shakespeare then proceeds throughout the sonnet in a similar fashion, providing several beautiful images before contrasting them with his mistress.

Shakespeare took a realistic route when writing sonnet 130 noting in line 5-6, “I have seen roses damask’d, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks.” While this may initially make the reader feel disillusioned, it is straightforwardly realistic since most people do not have skin coloration as vibrant as roses. Shakespeare notes that although his mistress does not have such skin, he still loves her. Shakespeare further contrasts the pleasant scents of perfumes to his mistress’ breath.

This line is both entertaining and acts as an affirmation of Shakespeare’s realism in sonnet 130. The line does not imply that the mistress has foul dental smell but rather builds on the realistic view that the woman is human. The sincerity towards the concept of love demonstrated in sonnet 130 articulates that although the speaker’s lover is not a goddess, he still loves her (Shakespeare 11-14). Although Shakespeare used humor to exemplify the true meaning of love in sonnet 130, he did not use any form of sarcasm but rather sincerity in feeling and tone.

Sonnet 138 does not use any imagery, and the attitude towards love expressed in this sonnet is relatively similar to that demonstrated in sonnet 130. In addition to style, the most notable difference between sonnet 130 and 138 is the time dimension assigned to love to which sonnet 138 speaks. Sonnet 138 focuses primarily on the idea of timelessness in love, as a love that endures and withstands the test of time. Shakespeare puts a twist to sonnet 138 by showing that the lovers are past the days of making comparisons between their love and love in an infinite sense.

This allows the reader to assume that these lovers have been together for a substantial part of their lives and remain in love