Love in Sonnet 116

True Love Transcends Time in Sonnet 116 Shakespeare talks about love, which can be one of the most difficult and confusing parts of life. Through the use of metaphors and graphic language Shakespeare tries to show the reader what he thinks love is. His goal is to prove that true love is clear and that it has a real definition. He seeks to do this by making us see love in a different light, deeper than just what it appears to be at first. Shakespeare doesn't write what he thinks true love is, instead he writes what love isn't and by doing this he shows that true love isn't weakened by time, it remains strong as long as the two people live. Shakespeare starts the sonnet by saying that he is not trying to talk down on love or discourage anyone who thinks they have it. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments” (1-2) he follows that statement by telling the reader one of the aspects of true love, that is does not weaken over time. “Love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds” (2-3). True love lasts forever and its doesn't wither as time passes. it isn't affected by the world, instead it ignores the world. This is important because it shows Shakespeare's belief that true love lasts for eternity and never fails. In the next picture Shakespeare creates for explaining true love he uses the nautical reference of an "ever-fixed mark" (5), this speaks of a reference point that would help a ship to travel in a strait line. Later he compares love to “ the star to every wandering bark” (8) with this metaphor he wants to show that true love remains when everything else does not. Both of these metaphors show that true love can out-last everything else in the world. The metaphors also speak to another theme, love does not depend on time. In the last several lines Shakespeare speaks to the fact that true love is not affected as time passes and appearances change “Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle's compass come / Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks” (9-11) Time is no match for true love. Shakespeare wants the reader to see that true love does not depend on physical beauty but it is much deeper, and it will continue after it has faded. Then he ends the sonnet by saying “if this be error and upon me proved / I never writ, nor no man ever loved” (116. 13-14). By this he means if he is wrong and true love is really based solely on the physical then he hasn't written anything worth reading and there's not a man who has ever loved. In Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 he challenges the existence of love then confirms that there is in fact true love, but not all “love” is true. Shakespeare shows what he believes true love to be by stating what it is not. He effectively paints a picture of “true love” and shows the reader his views on it. Whether or not he is right about his assessment of love may not work for everyone. The reader must decide for himself.