Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35 - No more be grieved at that which thou hast done

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SONNET 35	PARAPHRASE
No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done:	Do not grieve any more at what you have done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;	Roses have thorns, and clear fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,	Clouds and eclipses obscure both the moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.	And the canker worm chooses the sweetest bud to invade.
All men make faults, and even I in this,	Everybody commits faults, and even I in doing this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,	Justifying your crimes by comparisons [in lines 2/3],
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,	Making myself a corrupt pleader by trying to remedy your misdeeds,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;	Excusing your sins and even sins you haven't committed;
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,	For I bring reason to side with your sensual faults,
(Thy adverse party is thy advocate)	(The opponent in this case is your advocate)
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:	And against myself I begin a lawful plea:
Such civil war is in my love and hate	I am so torn apart by loving and hating you at the same time
That I an accessary needs must be	That I must become an accessory
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.	To [you] that sweet thief who robs me by being unfaithful.

Notes

stain (3): dim.

canker (4): canker-worm, known for choosing sweet plants to devour.

Authorizing...compare (6): sanctioning your sins by these comparisons.

Myself...thy amiss (7): [by] smoothing over (salving) your wrongs I corrupt myself.

To that sweet...from me. (14): Compare Richard Barnfield's sonnet addressed to Cynthia, written in 1595: "There came a thief, and stole my heart/And robbed me of my chiefest part." We cannot be sure which poet's lines were first. Barnfield also wrote a now-famous ode called Address to the Nightingale (1598), which many wrongfully attributed to Shakespeare.

Sonnet 35 reveals a dark side to the relationship between the poet and his young dear friend, likely the Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's patron. The poet clearly battles self-doubt and insecurity, and he shares the blame with his lover, who has betrayed him. Despite the pain that his lover has inflicted upon him, the poet decides to assume equal guilt in the corruption of their union. He accuses himself of irrationally 'authorizing' his lover's sins, and using a clever conceit of the courtroom, he illustrates that he is at once an accessory to the crime and the victim pressing charges; the prosecutor of his lover and his lover's chief advocate. All of the sonnets are a testament to Shakespeare's sensitivity and sweetness, but none more so than Sonnet 35.

For more on the sonnets, please see the general introduction to Shakespeare's sonnets.

How to cite this article:
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 35. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 10 Dec. 2009. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/35detail.html >.

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Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets

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How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet

Theories Regarding the Sonnets

The Rules of Shakespearean Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Q & A

Are Shakespeare's Sonnets Autobiographical?

Petrarch's Influence on Shakespeare

Themes in Shakespeare's Sonnets

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Shakespeare and the Earl of Southampton

The Order of the Sonnets

The Date of the Sonnets

Who was Mr. W. H.?

Are all the Sonnets addressed to two Persons?

Who was The Rival Poet?

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Points to Ponder ... "In the Sonnets we may read of the poet's intense hopes and fears regarding his fate, and we learn of his all-consuming desire for immortality. Begin as he may with his theme, he almost invariably merges into allegory, and represents himself as the contestant of death. Bodily death he does not fear: oblivion he dreads. He therefore argues incessantly on the course he shall pursue to defy the ravages of time and prevent the loss of reputation. He may have the applause of the day (on the stage); or he may command lasting renown (by his pen). His "fair friend," his "better angel," bids him to seek immortality; his "dark" mistress, the alluring woman with the "mourning eyes," tempts him to delights of the present. The two series of poems are almost wholly allegorical and antithetical." John Cuming Walters. (The Mystery of Shakespeare's Sonnets)

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