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