Central to understanding this brilliant sonnet is the way
that Shakespeare is actually poking fun at the somewhat hyperbolic and exaggerated
descriptions of the idealised female of conventional love poems. Shakespeare
deliberately eschews such high-blown and innaccurate description, indicated by the
series of negatives in the poem. In addition, the speaker seems to deliberately
emphasise the less than divine aspects of his lover's character, focusing on her bad
breath, her wiry hair and her normal eyes:
And in some perfumes is there more
delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress
reeks...
Such descriptions
give this sonnet a humorous honesty that deliberately undercuts the exaggerated
descriptions of other love poems, which present the object of the poem as almost a
"goddess." However, in spite of this frankness, Shakespeare uses this kind of
description to suggest that love exists between real and not idealised characters, and
that this love is far more genuine because of this honesty. Note how the closing couplet
supports this theme:
And yet, by Heaven, I think my love as
rare
As any she belied with false
compare.
Shakespeare is
therefore playing with our expectations of a love poem. The frank descriptions do not
indicate a lack of love or regard, rather they are used to emphasise the far more
genuine nature of the love that exists between them than the ridiculously exaggerated
descriptions provided in most love poems of the time. By criticising his beloved, he is
actually only reinforcing his love for her.
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