Sonnet 73.

Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. 

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

I wanted to analyze a soliloquy for this week's blog, seeing as I haven't been exposed to many. 
This sonnet breaks my heart; there is an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and an acceptance of death; the speaker has an existential tone, embracing death and his future loneliness without his love. The "yellow leaves, or none, or few," that the speaker describes highlight his loneliness even further. The yellow color of the leaves have both positive and negative connotations, symbolizing the duality of the man's love for the woman to whom he writes. Yellow often symbolizes sunshine or happiness, alluding to summer joy and delight. However, though the color yellow symbolizes summer and life, the "none, or few" leaves on the trees indicate that the season is fall, when the leaves change colors. In a way, the speaker alludes to a transition in life, the maturation of his love and his life from fall to winter. He feels his death is imminent, as the leaves on the branches of the trees are turning different colors, just about to fall off. While the yellow colors of the leaves symbolize a passionate, living love, they also represent a darker image of decay, once again reminding the reader of the speaker's imminent death. So heartbreaking. 

The number of leaves on the trees is obscure; it could be either none...or just a few left, dangling, hanging on for dear life. It's as if the speaker is afraid his death will hurt his lover too much, and is intentionally pulling back from her, slowly but surely, to let her forget about him even after he is gone from her world. Just as the "sunset fadeth in the west," he will fade from her life. 

The speaker's discussion of death is perhaps the overarching theme of the poem. His discussion of death is interesting in that I am unsure as to what he wants to get across by his discussion of death. Does he mean that his love for his lover is soon to die when his body deteriorates? Or is he insinuating that their love will rather survive the death of his physical body? The line that struck me as interesting was the line concerning "death's second self." Who? If Death has a second self, what would that be? Suffering? Life? Sorrow? Shakespeare's language seems even more cryptic in this sonnet than in his other writing, perhaps to underline the uncertainty of death. The speaker cannot be sure what will happen after his death, whether his lover will continue to long for him or will be able to forget him and move on. Perhaps Death's second self is uncertainty, as nothing in life is ever truly certain or uncertain...that is, but love.


And even love is somewhat uncertain, just as the dangling leaves on the tree. The speaker can't tell when they will fall off, and how many will fall off at one time. Sure, he could pluck them off, but that would be like trying to control the future, changing a fate. The sun will set and rise again, but there is no telling whether it the next day will be rainy or sunny. Love is changing, death is imminent. 


Life.

Hamlet Ponderings II

I think Ophelia committed suicide. The biggest question that I have is why. I know that she probably couldn't handle the stress and grief of learning that she was just a pawn in Cladius and Polonius' game, that Hamlet murdered her father, that her father is dead. But I just cannot seem to understand why she would commit suicide, all the same. Or why she would drown herself. As opposed to...for example, stabbing herself to death. Or asking Hamlet to kill her. Something more dramatic.

So, is Ophelia ultimately weak or strong? I'm sure that some people probably believe that Ophelia's suicide represents her strength, and I guess I can see why she could be seen as strong. In a way, her suicide is one of the only decisions she makes in the play. It is not revealed as to who first started the relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet--if it could even qualify as a real "relationship"--and seeing snippets of Ophelia and Hamlet's exchanges during the nunnery scene, the only scene in which Hamlet and Ophelia directly speak to each other and are alone in the play, Hamlet seems to have a certain dominance over Ophelia. Sure, in the time period in which Shakespeare wrote his play, it would be normal for the man to have the power in the relationship. However, that does not necessarily mean that the woman should be weak--she just simply had to be weaker than the man. So I can see why some would say that the fact that Ophelia made the decision to commit suicide, although it might have been an undesirable decision, was a decision, a show of strength. A frustrated "hey men of my world, I can decide what to do with myself too" cry.

But personally, I find Ophelia weak. Sure, I understand that Ophelia has a "duty" to her father, and certainly to the king. But I don't find that enough reason to allow yourself to participate in your father and your lover's stepfather's conniving plots, especially without protest. Come on. If you really loved Hamlet as much as you said you did, shouldn't you be a little more reluctant about lying straight to his face? Of deceiving him? Of allowing yourself to become a small pawn in a plan? I don't know, Ophelia, but your passivity just about killed me. But what was most passive? The greatest show of your weakness? Your suicide. I see Ophelia's suicide as her way of escaping the madness that surrounds her, not only in her own mind but also in the people around her. She obviously becomes crazy after learning about the death of her father, presumably learning about Polonius' death by Hamlet, and ultimately decides to end her life to escape it.

I guess Shakespeare is attempting to illustrate the frailty of woman in Ophelia. She escapes conflict rather than facing it. Hamlet decides to take revenge for his father. Though he takes no action, he makes long speeches about being conflicted and wanting to make sure that his uncle really did murder his father before acting on anything. But, I mean, at least he has all the "right" intentions and doesn't give up on his life, though he does have some bouts of existentialism and depression--see "quintessence of dust" speech--he doesn't commit suicide.

Frailty, thy name is woman Ophelia.

Hamlet Ponderings

Whoa there, Hamlet. Ease up on the sexual innuendo, please.
Just kidding; it only gives us more to analyze.

I was a bit taken aback by Hamlet's sudden outbursts both during the "nunnery" and the "play within a play" scenes, but I assume that Shakespeare was trying to remind the audience of the previously mentioned prostitution imagery. What made me really think about Shakespeare's use of prostitution imagery and Hamlet's lashing out at Ophelia in Act III was how prostitution is connected to the whole play.

I keep seeing prostitution in the light of betrayal, a direct contrast to the duty that is described so often throughout the play. A prostitute would be "faithful" to many different people; this confused sense of duty seems to correspond to a lot of the characters in the play, most markedly Ophelia. If we interpret her and Hamlet's relationship as a once loving and intimate relationship--I, for one, do believe that their relationship was very passionate and intense at one point in time--then Hamlet's feelings of betrayal are understandable. However, I feel at times that he is a bit too much of, pardon my language, a drama queen about Ophelia and her actions. If Hamlet and Ophelia had such an intimate and caring relationship, I would feel that it would only be just for her to be called a "prostitute" if she had cheated on him with another man. His outright feelings of betrayal at her actions don't seem to correspond to their relationship. After all, I believe she should have a higher sense of duty to her father than to her lover. As Laertes insinuated, Hamlet would most probably not be able to marry Ophelia anyways because she is not of royal lineage. Therefore, it would stand that Hamlet and Ophelia were most likely going to be girlfriend/boyfriend and stay girlfriend/boyfriend. If they were not engaged or going to be engaged, I certainly hope that she felt a higher sense of duty to her father--although I do understand if she did not initially feel as loyal to her father because of his mistreatment of her, but that is beside the point--rather than to her lover, Hamlet. I guess what I am trying to say is that Hamlet really doesn't have that much of a right to continue to talk to Ophelia in such vulgar terms and feel so betrayed by her part in the plot to spy on him as he does. Just a thought...or maybe it's my inner feminist coming out trying to defend Ophelia.
Perhaps Shakespeare has made Hamlet into this hurt, sneering animal for another reason, and knowing old William, he probably has. I would like to think that in Act IV, the prostitution and betrayal themes would be more developed as Hamlet starts to understand and take in the situation more clearly. Perhaps, in the end, Hamlet will be a "prostitute" in his own sense to his father's ghost and memory.

With Shakespeare, anything is possible, and everything has another interpretation.