Can comfort be found in falsities? Can security be attained through lies? Can one truly sustain a relationship based on deceit? In Shakespeare's sonnet When my love swears that she is made of truth, the speaker portrays a less poetic illustration of love through a description of his own involvement with a younger woman, and he demonstrates that love is not a picture perfect romance, but rather a relationship where two people make silent sacrifices for the good of the other person. Through his assessment of their relationship, he not only reveals his lover's true character, but he also unknowingly unveils the secret aspects of his own character. Both of them are aware that their love is essentially based on the front they put on in order to protect each other...she pretends not to be "unjust" while he pretends not to be "old." It also becomes evident, however, that they consciously accept each other's distortions of the truth not only to comfort each other, but also to comfort themselves and maintain security in their relationship.
             The speaker desperately tries to exhibit a youth, which both he and his lover know he no longer possesses since his "days are past the best." Given that he obviously can't do anything to change his physical appearance, he tries to compensate for his age by altering his personality. He manipulates his lover's perspective of his character, and thus he "vainly" hopes to manipulate her perspective of his age. He "credit[s] her false-speaking tongue" and pretends to believe her obviously false claims of truthfulness, with the hopes that this ostensible naiveté would give him the persona of the "untutored youth" that he yearns for. In effect, he expects that this act of innocence would somehow cast a youthful shadow on his old age.
             Because he seemingly accepts her distorted state of h
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