AndrewWoldemar

MsGardner
English10h2
0

11Sep2014
Analysis
Insonnet94,Shakespeareimplies,throughmetaphorandallusion,thatpeoplewhoare
outwardlybeautifulbutimmoralandcorrupt,arefarmorerepulsivethanthosewhoarehomelyyetmoral.
Hethoroughlyshowsthatbeautydoesnotnecessarilymeanmorality.
Inthefirstquatrain,apersonofhighselfcontrolisportrayed.Theyhavethepowerto
hurt,andwilldonone[line1].Thispersoncaninfluenceothersandremainuninfluenced.Atfirstitwould
seemasifthiswereahorriblethingbutasthesonnetprogresses.Itissoonseentobeotherwise.Inthe
nextquatrainShakespeareswitchesagain.
Shakespearenextproclaimsthatthesetypeofpeopledeservewhattheyget.Theyve
earnedit.Theyaresogoodatselfcontrolthatothersdontcomeclose.Othersbutstewardsoftheir
excellence[line8].Theyhavetotalcontrolovertheirfacialfeaturesanddesires.
ThefirstlineofthethirdquatrainisThesummersfloweristothesummersweet[line
9].ItseemsasifShakespeareisusingtheanalogyofaflowertoportraythisperson.Astheanalogy
continues,Shakespeareshowsthatflowers[theperson]aregreat.However,iftheybecomeinfected
[corrupt],theywouldbecomefarworsethanthebasestweed.Inthiscase,Shakespeareseemsto
portraythefactthatthatflowersgreatnesswillonlylastsolong.
Inthefinaltwolines,Shakespearerelatesthatgoodthingscanturnoutjustasbadasthey
weregood.Healsoshowsthehorriblefateofsomeonewithlittleselfcontrol.Liliesthatfester,smellfar
worsethanweeds[line14].Thisilluminatesthesayingthatbeautyisonlyskindeep.Intheend,aweed
canoutdoaflowerifthatfloweriscorrupt.