Question

Which statement best explains the two possible interpretations of the sonnet?

Answer 1

Answer: I believe the best answer to be the first option:

The three quatrains satirize common poetic comparisons of one’s beloved to beautiful things, suggesting that the speaker’s feelings are not strong. However, the sudden reversal in tone in the final couplet surprises and moves through its sincerity and depth of feeling, suggesting strong emotions.

Explanation: In his Sonnet 130, Shakespeare uses metaphor to compare his loved one to beautiful natural things. However, he does so only to conclude that the woman he loves is not better than any of those things. Her hair is like black wires, her color is an unbecoming dun, her breath smells bad, her cheeks do not have any color. Still, he loves her. He does not idolize her in any way. He sees her as the human being she is, and his love is not less valuable because of that.

Shakespeare's intention is to mock the poetry that was so in vogue back at his time. In Elizabethan England, poets often used the Petrarch form when writing about love. They would compare their lovely ladies to goddesses and natural beauties, always claiming their women were far more beautiful than any of those things. It's as if their love made them blind to their flaws. Shakespeare skillfully satirizes such custom.