Shakespeare’s treatment of the Sonnets
Shakespeare treated Petrarchan convention of the sonnets in his own way. First of all he changed the structure of the sonnet. Shakespeare’s Sonnets have more than one motif. Man was the object of praise. Shakespeare presents woman not as godlike, wonderful, perfect creature but as human with all his defects. Woman became a vile creature, a demon trying to take over man’s soul. Shakespeare also took note of physical love and more down-to-earth sensations connected with it. The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem written as an octave (six lines) followed by a sestet (eight lines). The rhyme scheme will never have more than 5 rhymes within it. The octave's rhyme scheme is constant as follows: The final sestet however uses a variety of schemes but it cannot contain more than 3 rhymes additional to the two used in octave. Some examples of patterns used for the sestet follow: The octave usually introduces some kind of problem or a doubt. The sestet resolves the problem or eases the doubt. Petrarchan sonnet does not have a couplet. Love for the lady is the only motif of Petrarchan Sonnets. Description of the mistress is detailed but at the same time exaggerated. The mistress . . .
Woman presented by Shakespeare is made of flesh and blood. Man is a subject to destructive power of a woman. Sonnet 147 tells us what can happen to a man after being beguiled by a vicious lady. Poet presents the terrible state in which he is. is better then nature and so nothing can be better than the mistress. Sonnet 129 is one of the most famous Sonnets of Shakespeare. “The Medieval poet Petrarch had used the sonnet to address his beloved Laura. Shakespeare’s Sonnets, unlike those of Petrarch conceit, have more than one motif. In the couplet he states however that despite all those disadvantages his love is true and rare. He thinks that his mistress is “as black as hell” and “as dark as night”. Two men, the poet and his friend, fell in love with the same woman. The first 126 Sonnets address a handsome young man whom Shakespeare admires and loves. Following example from Sonnet 20 states it clearly: “A woman's face with nature's own hand painted, Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion”. One is comforting and one is despairing.
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