The sonnet begins by directly addressing Death's imposing dreadfulness, and directly afterwards planting a seed of doubt on its true power and reach. We can see that clearly in this first line "Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me".
In the next few lines, we are reminded that even though Death is in charge of delivering our deceased to the other side, there are many other direct dangers to the living such as poison, war and sickness. Those are the real things we should be afraid of. <u>Death itself has no real power other than executing its duty upon our mistakes and misfortunes which are the things that actually lead us to it in the first place</u>.
The other line that illustrates Death's power as an illusion would be: "And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."
Hope this helps!
