“sonnet 138”

William Shakespeare

Subject
- Dishonesty
- Trust
Paraphrase
When my lover lies that she is honest.
I still believe her,
She might think that I am naive,
Unaware of the negative side of life,
She thinks I am naive
Even though she knows I am not,
I accept her lies,
As I also lie to her.
But why doesn’t she say that she is unjust?
And why don’t I say that I am old?
Trust is the most important thing in love.
Age is just a number
So I lie with her and she lies with me,
And we are flattered with the lies we made to cover our faults.
Occasion
- The poem focuses on the dishonesty between two lovers of different age. The narrator’s
lover chooses to believe the narrator is innocent and inexperience, while both of them
know full well that he is not. They are aware of each other’s lies, but chooses to ignore
the truth as their love is only possible when they ignore the truth about each other and
showers themselves with lies.

Organisation
- The poem is a sonnet with three quatrains and a couplet. The first two quatrains involves
around lies and deceits. The third quatrain states that the most important thing in love is
trust. The couplet presents a resolution that even though they are dishonest with each
other, they still sleep together and ignore the flaws each other have.
- Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Tone
- Contemplating
- Humourous
- Accepting
Theme
- The imperfection in relationships

Title
- “Sonnet 138”

Speaker
- The narrator of the poem seems to be an older man who is in a relationship with a
younger woman as his lover want to see him as younger than he actually is.

Shift
- The poem shifts on the third quatrains when the narrator introduces a new idea other than
lies and deceits in the poem, which is trust and unimportance of age in a relationship.

In “Sonnet 138”, William Shakespeare uses word play to portray the imperfection in
relationships. The poem revolves around the lies and deceit the narrator and his lovers tell each
other. The quote “Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,/ Although she knows my days
are past the best,” (line 5-6) highlights the acceptance of lies the couple accept in order to make
their relationship possible. The word “young” being used in line 5 can be interpreted into two
ways. The literal meaning of young is ‘not old’, and the other meaning is ‘inexperienced’ or
‘innocent’. Shakespeare uses the word young to imply that the narrator’s lover is younger as she
tends to perceive the narrator as being young and inexperienced. By ignoring the obvious truth,
she also tricks herself into thinking that he will believe in her lies. The narrator obliges and
believes in her word though he knows it is untrue because he doesn’t want to complicate his
relationship with his lover. Then, the narrator comes to a solution to his relationship in the
couplet. As evident in line 13-14, “Therefore I lie with her and she with me,/ And in our faults
by lies we flattered be.” the narrator no longer cares about the lies. He resigns that his
relationship is built on lies and it is the lies that make their relationship possible. They ignore the
flaws the other have and without the lies, their relationship wouldn’t have worked out.
Shakespeare uses the word ‘lie’ which has a literal meaning ‘to not tell the truth’ and another
meaning which is ‘to have sex’. This creates a humorous effect in the play and suggest that even
though they lie to each other, they still love each other. However, their love only exists because
they choose to see only the flawless sides of each other. True to human nature, some couples
only see what they want to see in their partner and neglect the imperfect side of each other.