SONNET 144

Analysis:

Shakespeare describes his two loves in the first quatrain of Sonnet 144. While one of them calls
soothing, the other gives sorrow. He goes on to state that all loves urge him as much as spirits
do. The best angel is a man who is beautiful and beautiful, while the worst spirit or angel is a
woman who is dark in her colors. It is very clear that the poet favors a man's companionship to
that of a woman. The man and the woman appear to represent opposites in the poet's life, and
they are more of an antithesis of each other. He is decent and bright, and he is evil and corrupt.
Although he's fair, he's gloomy, he's soothing, and he brings depression to the poet.

In the second quatrain, he states that his female lover will eventually take him to hell by
enticing his better angel away from him. Here he may not say hell in the actual sense, but the
uncertainty of trying to compromise between his mutual allegiance and not knowing what will
be the ultimate outcome of this love triangle. He claims he's trying to corrupt his better angel
with the devil and corrupt his spirit with pride. Interestingly, he puts on the lady all the blame
of the relationship between his male and female partners. The poet is unsure if his fair friend,
the better angel, is going to transform the enemy, but he suspects that this is so. He thinks so,
that both the best angel and the bad spirit are away from him.

In the last quatrain, he says one angel is the other hell. However, even if he has concerns, he
will not be certain. And his suspicions can only be proven if the dark angel pushes the positive
out.