William Shakespeare’s Warning

William Shakespeare uses “Sonnet 95” to reveal corruption of youth and beauty. More specifically, the sonnet speaks of the corruption of a young man due to his own “sins” (6) and sexual accomplishments and the glorification he earns from this. Shakespeare’s diction and meter clearly reveal this twisted tale of vice’s destruction of virtue. A critical analysis can evoke this tale and the warning Shakespeare makes to this beautiful young man regarding his life and promiscuous activities.

Shakespeare reveals the beauty of the young man in the first line with words “sweet” (1) and “lovely” (1), but overshadows this character with implied “shame” (1). This is not the common meaning of shame but is the sin that blossoms after premarital sexual encounters. This traditional Shakespearean (abab) rhyme scheme further implies that this becomes more than shame, but “a canker in the fragrant rose” (2). “[F]lower” (2) in this line refers to this young man’s great beauty, but “canker” (2) destroys this beauty. The meaning that Shakespeare speaks of is a worm or maggot that matriculates inside and destroys the flower. The worm kills the flower from the inside out and is not discovered until the flower blooms. It can then be seen that th

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Line 8 also contains trochees in the first and third foot. The spondee in the fourth foot of line 4 stresses the “sin” (4) of the young man and further exemplifies the author’s intentions, revealing the corruption and staining of the character’s soul and body despite his flawless outward appearance. I feel the spondee in line 8 is significant since it stresses the name of the character. The “beauty’s veil” (11) covers the “blot” (11), being the sin of sexual preying mentioned in the first quatrain, or this blot could be physical disease or syphilis, which would connect the sonnet to the finalizing couplet. Shakespeare may also have intended to use a sexual pun at the end, and reveal that because of the many encounters, and the “blot” (11) transmitted to the man, he may lose his “edge” (14), (male phallic symbol) from the disease, which was most probably syphilis. e flower is destroyed, but not until the flower blossoms. The word “sport” (6) refers to the sexual nature of the man.

The “sweets” (4) are the fine looks the character possesses, with which he is able to “enclose” (4) or hide his disease. Despite the criticisms of his sins, speaking his name heightens the man to a more beautiful level. These next four lines reiterate the emphasis of the man’s increasing beauty due to the criticisms of the people. Line 6 contains a trochee in the first and second foot and line 7 has a pyrrhic in the third foot.

The irony in these 4 lines may be why stressing differentiates at this point in the sonnet. Shakespeare humorously leaves it up to the reader. They are so many, that Shakespeare refers to a “mansion” (9), and emphasizes the large amount of criticisms he endures, which reveals the relevance of this quatrain following the last. The “tongue” (5) is anyone who chooses to speak of this man, and “the story of thy days” (5) is the history of the young man’s life, which includes his many sexual encounters.

Approximate Word count = 910
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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