Sonnet 121
Presentation by Sam Smiley
‘Tis better to be vilethan vile esteemed.
‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasures lost which is so deemedNot by our feeling but by others’ seeing.
Weiser’s Inverted Form
When not to be receives reproach of being
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed
Not by our feeling but by others’ seeing
(Then) ‘tis better to be Vile than Vile esteemed
Theme
Because of this the main theme is not understood until after the entire sonnet has
been read.
vile
Definition
Morally despicable or abhorrent
Disgustingly or utterly bad
Vile Esteemed
Experts
“Crucial and Difficult”
- G. Wilson Knight
Hilton Landry
3 Interpretations
Rebuttal against PuritansRebuttal against the World
Moral Relativity
1st Interpretation
“An indignant protest against
Puritan attacks on the stage…”
2nd Interpretation“Directed against all those…who
judge the poet adversely.”
Hypocrisy
One of the major themes of the sonnet
3rd Interpretation“Some kind of beyond-good-
and-evil claim.”
Works Cited
Flickr, Tehsi, Puritan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tehsfoto/5767396842/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, @boetter, Thinking RFID
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakecaptive/3205277810/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, Fresh Conservative, Joseph Gulag Stalin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freshconservative/3882535030/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, Duke Yearbook, Blue Devil Decal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dukeyearlook/2047205405/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Flickr, radiowood2000, St. Joan of Arc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiowood/4240323457/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Flickr, thisisbossi, 8993- St. Petersburg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisbossi/3054717301/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, Leo Reynolds, swatsika
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwr/5064608546/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, Robert Couse-Baker, America, the beautiful
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/5903222975/sizes/m/in/photostream/
Flickr, Andrew F. Scott, Gavel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afsart/3190899338/sizes/m/in/photostream/
D. Weiser, Theme and Structure in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 121. Studies in Philology 75, 142-143, 146. (1978)
No Fear Shakespeare, Sonnet 121
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/sonnets/sonnet_121.html
Davant els esdeveniments a l’Iran, Manuel
http://www.anticapitalistes.net/spip.php?article1651