Theme of Love
            
            
            
             One component that is significant in William Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is the theme of love. Throughout the poem, Shakespeare expresses how love is strong, enduring, ever lasting, and real, and he describes how these characteristics are important. Understanding the theme of the poem and the characteristics of love is essential to the reader, and helps one to better realize that true love is forever.
            
             In the beginning lines of the poem, Shakespeare describes how true love is unchanged and resilient. This concept is presented by the lines, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments; love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. O, no, it is and ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken." (page 883, lines 1-6) This statement informs the reader that love is an emotion that is powerful enough to endure anything, and it will withstand any obstacles it encounters. The strong and stable characteristics of love displayed in this poem add to the theme of love beginning forever and sincere.
            
             The ever lasting characteristic of love is displayed in lines "Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come; love alters not with his brief hours and weeks but bears it out even to the edge of doom." (pages 883-884, lines 9-12) Through these lines, Shakespeare expresses how love is not based on a time schedule. This is an important concept in the poem because it shows how love can last forever, and there is no time limit to how long it can last. By stressing that true is forever, Shakespeare adds to the meaning of the emotion.
            
             The importance of love is seen in the lines "It is the star to every wand'ring bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken." (page 883, lines 7-8) Through thes...