Introduction
Studying Shakespeare’s Sonnet Number 1, we see that the speaker wants the woman to be an ageless beauty. Using the metaphor of a rose, the speaker describes the fact that people wish to stay young, beautiful, flawless without the worry of old age. According to Xue, “The first symbolic meaning of the rose image: beauty and youth. By employing the rose as his first flower imagery at the very beginning of the sonnets, Shakespeare capitalized the first letter of “Rose” and put the rose in a prominent position. Though many scholars have studied why Shakespeare uses the capital letter “R” of “Rose in the first sonnet to be a crux. However, from the rose imagery in the first sonnet, we get some hints about the theme of his sonnets: beauty and youth.” (Xue, 2023, 3) The type of beauty here must never die and we are told that from “beautiful people” the world expects more from them. There is a dedication that must be taken care of when taking care of yourself. In the first two lines of Sonnet number one we are given an explanation of what this means in the images he uses.
Death of a Rose
But what if the beautiful, flawless rose does die? What then? Shakespeare tells us there is always the memory of when she was in her prime and that true beauty never fades, yet it has an heir. Xue tells us (2023), “In the first sonnet, the rose symbolizes the pure beauty of his fair friend, his youth and vitality. But beauty is like a blossom and beauty fades like a flower. The young man’s youth also fades with time. In this sense, the rose is both the symbol of beauty and the metaphor of fast-fading beauty and youth. So, this sonnet puts the idea that if we want to live forever, then the only way is to have children. These children will continue due names long after we pass, while a lack of procreation will lead to a quick demise.” (Xue, 2023, 4) Assuming the gifts are passed along to the offspring, there is a legacy she wants to leave behind but what if being a mother is not important? Shakespeare asks why she feels hateful about who she is? Why does she want to destroy her natural allure? The speaker in the poem is her biggest critic.
Choice
Even though the speaker dislikes who they are, the poem tells us that to the world she shows a smile. The speaker says she only rises to the occasion on her good days, but inside she is not the person she is claiming to be. She hides her true personality. On the inside she is covetous, mean and rude. This is when Shakespeare says “thy sweet self too cruel.” So the speaker in Sonnet Number One advises to “pity the world” by feeling sorry because of what her surroundings are doing to her, or she can endure and accept it. Have a pity party or be strong. By taking on what the world dishes out, she is taking what she goes through concerning her beauty to her grave.
Conclusion
The speaker is telling the lady not to be in her feelings and blame the world for her low self-esteem. It is up to her to work on herself, and not allow the world’s opinion to change how she feels about herself.
Read more articles from Alexis on our Zealousness blog Alexis Ellis – iN Education Inc. (ineducationonline.org).
Reference
- Xue, Meichun. “Rose” Image in Shakespeare’s Sonnets.” Open Access Library Journal 10, no. 4 (2023): 1-6.
