Post by Harry on Jun 9, 2002 14:12:00 GMT -5
Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy'd no sooner, but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,--and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream:
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Of the three sonnets we have discussed so far, this is the best known--also the most sexually charged. "Th'expense of spirit" means both waste of effort and the ejaculation of semen. "Waste," meaning both wasteful expense and wasteland, may be a pun with "waist." "Lust in action" is sexual intercourse. I find it interesting that Shakespeare prefers "lust" to "love" when speaking of the sexual act. He doesn't confuse love and sex.
The Poet goes on to say that until lust is satiated, it will commit any crime to achieve satiation, but once enjoyed is woe and shame. The nine most dishonest words in the English language are, "of course I'll still love you in the morning." Line 5 of this sonnet, "Enjoy'd no sooner, but despised straight;" is commentary. Lust is describes as mad before the act, a bliss during it, and a woe after. I understand the couplet as saying that everyone knows this, but no one knows how to avoid it.
Again we see very negative imagery associated with sex between a man and woman. It should be noted that the Poet is referring to sex outside of marriage. Marriage is viewed much more favorably in the plays. I believe this negative view of sex arises, in part, from the teaching of the church that sex is sin--Original Sin sometimes. The church had nothing against love--indeed it promoted the idea that Christians love one another--but sex was another matter. This remained true after the Reformation.
During the Medieval period, the notion of courtly love was developed. A knight was thought to be a better gentleman if he was trying to impress a lady. But, pure love couldn't involve sex. Therefore, the idea was that the knight would love someone he couldn't marry, say the wife of his king (think Launcelot and Guenivere or Tritan and Isolde). The problem, of course was that such an ideal was never fulfilled. When the consequences became known, the lovers were disgraced. So, "lust in action" led only to shame and woe.
Shakespeare wrote when the notion of courtly love was pretty much being succeeded by romantic love. Indeed, in plays like Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare did much to establish romantic love. But, the ideals of courtly love, particularly the notion that love is good--sex is bad, still were influential. Add to this the Renaissance rediscovery of the ancients. In ancient Greece, no shame was attendent on love between men. I think this, combined with courtly love is why the Renaissance considered asexual love between men as good, but sexual love between men and women as bad. It should be noted that in these sonnets there is never a suggestion that the Poet and the Youth have sex. Sonnet 20 goes so far as to deny the possibility. But, when the Dark Lady is the subject, sex is very much present.
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy'd no sooner, but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,--and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream:
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
Of the three sonnets we have discussed so far, this is the best known--also the most sexually charged. "Th'expense of spirit" means both waste of effort and the ejaculation of semen. "Waste," meaning both wasteful expense and wasteland, may be a pun with "waist." "Lust in action" is sexual intercourse. I find it interesting that Shakespeare prefers "lust" to "love" when speaking of the sexual act. He doesn't confuse love and sex.
The Poet goes on to say that until lust is satiated, it will commit any crime to achieve satiation, but once enjoyed is woe and shame. The nine most dishonest words in the English language are, "of course I'll still love you in the morning." Line 5 of this sonnet, "Enjoy'd no sooner, but despised straight;" is commentary. Lust is describes as mad before the act, a bliss during it, and a woe after. I understand the couplet as saying that everyone knows this, but no one knows how to avoid it.
Again we see very negative imagery associated with sex between a man and woman. It should be noted that the Poet is referring to sex outside of marriage. Marriage is viewed much more favorably in the plays. I believe this negative view of sex arises, in part, from the teaching of the church that sex is sin--Original Sin sometimes. The church had nothing against love--indeed it promoted the idea that Christians love one another--but sex was another matter. This remained true after the Reformation.
During the Medieval period, the notion of courtly love was developed. A knight was thought to be a better gentleman if he was trying to impress a lady. But, pure love couldn't involve sex. Therefore, the idea was that the knight would love someone he couldn't marry, say the wife of his king (think Launcelot and Guenivere or Tritan and Isolde). The problem, of course was that such an ideal was never fulfilled. When the consequences became known, the lovers were disgraced. So, "lust in action" led only to shame and woe.
Shakespeare wrote when the notion of courtly love was pretty much being succeeded by romantic love. Indeed, in plays like Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare did much to establish romantic love. But, the ideals of courtly love, particularly the notion that love is good--sex is bad, still were influential. Add to this the Renaissance rediscovery of the ancients. In ancient Greece, no shame was attendent on love between men. I think this, combined with courtly love is why the Renaissance considered asexual love between men as good, but sexual love between men and women as bad. It should be noted that in these sonnets there is never a suggestion that the Poet and the Youth have sex. Sonnet 20 goes so far as to deny the possibility. But, when the Dark Lady is the subject, sex is very much present.