Some of Shakespeare’s earlier plays include Richard II, Henry VI, Henry V and of course the iconic Romeo and Juliet. Most of his earlier plays demonstrate the common theme of the consequences of weak rulers. However, he also wrote various comedies, these include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant …show more content…
As soon as people hear the first line they are immediately aware that it is Shakespeare’s work. In Sonnet XVIII Shakespeare uses imagery and diction to express the theme of immorality. The sonnet opens with “Shall I compare thee to a summer day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:” (ln.1 Sonnet XVIII, Shakespeare). Here Shakespeare is comparing the person in which the sonnet is written about to a summer’s day. By doing this he is implying that this person is as beautiful and as lovely. The next few lines continue the comparison between the object of the sonnet and a summer’s day. Shakespeare acknowledges that not everything about summer is perfect. He says that a summer’s day could have rough winds or they could be too hot. I believe that Shakespeare does this to point out that not everything beautiful is perfect. However, they are still beautiful. Shakespeare then ends his comparisons and uses summer as a metaphor to show that beauty and youth are not everlasting. He makes the point that much like how every year summer fades away, everything beautiful will also fade away. It is simply inevitable. This is evident when in line seven when Shakespeare writes “And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed”(ln. 7 Sonnet XVIII, Shakespeare). The idea that all beauty fades away is the reason why Shakespeare wrote this sonnet. He believes that …show more content…
This is apparent in each of the sonnets previously discussed. In the Sonnet II Shakespeare discusses the need for people to have children. Shakespeare had three children in his lifetime. Shakespeare’s children were born in the late 1500’s and his sonnets were written in the early to mid 1600’s. It is reasonable to infer that the theme of having children is so common in his sonnets because of the affection he had for his children. Also, many of Shakespeare’s sonnet such as Sonnet XVIII share the theme of love and immorality. Many of Ovid’s works share the same theme. An example would be Ovid’s Tristia. Shakespeare studied classic, Latin authors in grammar school and it is likely that he identified with many of their ideas and themes. Lastly, in Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXXV he discusses the future after he is gone. Even people today think of what their legacy will be after they are gone. It is simply part of the human experience to wish that they will be remembered in a certain way and this was Shakespeare’s inspiration for Sonnet