Sonnet 116

This is how a 21st century love story goes: Boy meets girl. Two days after that, the boy tells her the 3 “magical” words...“I love you”… hold on, here’s the funny part. She believes him. People nowadays don’t value love. They don’t understand that the word “love” isn’t just a 4 letter word… It’s way beyond that. This is what William Shakespeare is trying to clarify in his Sonnet 116. He wants to expound what love is, & what it isn’t. Using a couple of metaphors, Shakespeare’s main aim is to elucidate the theme that real love is immortal, consistent and certainly not under the mercy of time.
Shakespeare starts off sonnet 116 by saying that true love overcomes impediments and doesn’t get affected by the changes in the surrounding. Following that, he compares true love to a Lighthouse. How are the following related? Well, a lighthouse, as well all know, guides ships and at the same time, overcomes all of the storms & tempests, at the same time, love as well guides couples and lost hearts to the right track and is able to overcome all the adversities it might encounter. Furthermore, Shakespeare continues with the metaphors saying “It is the star to every wandering bark”. Here, Shakespeare is comparing love to a star. Long time ago, people used to depend on “stars” as a source of guidance since compasses back then didn’t exist. Yet again, love is being compared to a star that leads the way for lost hearts. Lost hearts, blind eyes, love guides them all. In addition, Shakespeare stresses on the idea that love isn’t for time wasting or entertainment. Love isn’t restricted within a limited time, hence why Shakespeare describes what love is not: it is not susceptible to time. Priceless, consistent, immortal, permanent, this is what true love is all about in the eyes of Shakespeare. He definitely gives a clear description about what love is through the metaphors he included that contributed to his main clarification.
Sonnet 116 revolves around a single theme, one