Olivia Rosso

Lauren Doran
Ms. Gardner
English 10H/ Period 4
12 September 2016

Original Sonnet
Love rules the lives it has taken over,
But should love not form control and conscience?
So please do not judge me, my ex lover,
That, if you were to do would be nonsense.
Since you deceive me, I shall then deceive
Myself to do what my body wishes,
And my soul tells it what it should achieve,
My body can win being ambitious
When it hears your name, my body claims you
As his only beautiful, treasured prize
He will always be there to attend to
When you need it, my body will arise.
It is not love, though I still call it this,
Because its something my body would miss.

Laurens Analysis

In Sonnet #151 written by William Shakespeare, love forces the body to carry out tasks even

though the mind cannot find the logic in it: love blurs the mind and gives control to the body.

William Shakespeares use of contrasting sound devices like consonance and euphony direct

attention to the warring ideals between Shakespeares mind and body. The resoundingly harsh

consonant repetition of the t sound in words like, not, cheater, guilty, fault, and

treason support the idea that the poets body and mind are truly separate from one another. The

sharp bitterness of the t sound creates an almost lashing out image. The lashing image serves

the represent the conflict between the mind and body. They are not separate by any physical
means but instead they differ and the body becomes a traitor, because one wants to pursue their

love but the other is content to lay back. Shakespeare simplifies a body acting aside from its

brain as a mind having control of its thoughts but a body having control of its actions. The

consonant t sound greatly contrasts to the soft alluring euphony of the l sound. Apparent in

words like love, gentle, nobler, and soul Shakespeare creates a far more soothing tone. It

serves to represent the calming balm of a logical mind. The mind that finds no logic in pursuing

a cheating love. Ultimately the running theme in Sonnet #151 is that love gives control to its

holder: the urges of the body outweigh the logic of the mind.

Olivias Analysis

Sonnet 151 has a theme that is based on the difference of love and lust; love has betrayed
the author, William Shakespeare, so he must side with his lust rationalize his feelings .
Shakespeare experiences betrayal of a woman who has cheated on him and is lustful towards
another man. Through the lines For, thou betraying me, I do betray, it is displayed that since
Shakespeares lover has betrayed love for her sexual desires, then he must do that as well. His
use of rich imagery and soft diction reveals an argument between Shakespeare and his alter ego
showing his betrayal toward himself. The first two lines sound like opposing sides of
Shakespeare trying to justify his and his lovers actions by differentiating the words love and
conscience. He has generally stated that love without conscience is not love and that only true
love can birth that certain conscience. The phrase My soul doth tell my body he may triumph in
love, gives evidence of Shakespeare and his alter ego. Generally, the soul always has the right
conscience and without the soul, the body is not itself, yet a different version of itself. It states
that Shakespeares body is his alter ego. His alter ego is telling him that to match his lovers
betrayal, he must not love. He must only have lust. His soul is expressing to him that his body is
betraying his soul like his lover betrayed him. Understanding the sonnet makes it easier to
comprehend that Shakespeare is not talking to his cheating lover. Presumably, he is talking to
himself or his alter ego. The sonnet in itself is conclusively a philosophical statement.
Shakespeare is indeed speaking in terms of himself and not to the woman. The fact that his body
is telling him one thing, but his soul is telling him another is proof of his second self.

100 Word Story

I liked to think that I was dignified. That I was in control. That, for me, mind over matter
was as simple as that: mind over matter. I had always thought that- until I met Her. She, in
her irresistible temptation, made a traitor of my body and soul. He became her delighted
drudge and at just the sound of her name he would rise to serve. I was my own master. I
knew right from wrong, but I also knew that that gentle cheater held the reigns to my love
and that made her the master of everything else.

Erasure Sonnet
Sonnet 151
Love is too young to know what conscience is,
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
Then gentle cheater urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove.
For thou b etraying me, I do betray
My nobler part to my gross body's treason,
My soul doth tell my body that he may,
Triumph in love , flesh stays no farther reason,
But rising at thy name doth point out thee,
As his triumphant prize, proud of this pride,
He is contented thy poor drudge to be,
To stand in thy affairs, fall by thy side.
No wa nt of conscience hold it that I call,
Her love, for whose dear love I rise and fall.