My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Literary Analysis Essay

A Different Tone of View In the sonnet “My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun,” Shakespeare conveys an ironically humorous tone. Throughout the text he contrasts his lover’s attributes against cliched poetic comparisons. By doing so, he misleads the reader into thinking that he is disparaging his lover, when in fact he is criticizing the impossible standards of beauty to which most women are held. This humorous irony is demonstrated by the subject of his false comparisons, his word choice when describing his mistress, and in the resolution of the closing couplet. The first instance of Shakespeare’s criticism of beauty standards through humorous irony occurs when he describes the subjects of his false comparisons. Initially he begins by comparing his lovers to cliched items of natural beauty such as the sun, coral, snow and roses. Each represents an idealistic image of what true beauty is. Often poets use such devices to compare the objects of their affection, though usually the object exceeds the comparison. Shakespeare himself is guilty of …show more content…
“And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare.” In this passage, Shakespeare states that in spite of all of his lover’s perceived flaws, he prefers her above all other things that may be deemed more beautiful than her because she is real. She is more than just an ideal thought or notion of something unachievable. Shakespeare goes to great length initially to mislead readers into thinking that the sonnet is intended to put down his lover, in the end he displays that his affection is stronger than any comparison. Some may argue that the couplet alone is not enough to make up for the damage the previous three quatrains did with their mockery of his lover, but there is an undeniable conviction in those words that make clear Shakespeare’s fondness of his “Dark