Poetry · Chapter
CXXXIV explained
The poet confesses that the friend belongs to the dark lady, and that he himself is enslaved to her will.
What happens
The poet confesses that the friend belongs to the dark lady, and that he himself is enslaved to her will. He offers to forfeit himself if she will restore the friend, but she is covetous and the friend is kind, bound by a bond. The poet laments losing the friend through his own unkind abuse, and concludes that the friend pays the whole debt while the poet remains unfree.
Themes in this chapter
Lust and Morality
The poet's entanglement with the dark lady is depicted as a binding, usurious transaction, highlighting the moral and emotional cost of lust.
Truth and Deception
The poet confesses his own 'unkind abuse' and the deceptive nature of the bond that binds the friend, revealing a web of self-deception and betrayal.
Characters to notice
- William Shakespeare
The speaker who confesses his own mortgaged will and loss of the friend.
- Dark Lady
Addressed as 'thou' who is covetous and a usurer, holding both the poet and the friend.
Key passages
“So, now I have confess’d that he is thine, And I myself am mortgaged to thy will, Myself I’ll forfeit, so that other mine Thou wilt restore, to be my comfort still”
I admit that the friend belongs to you, and I am enslaved to your desire. I would give up myself if you would return the friend to me for my solace.
The poet offers a self-sacrificial bargain to regain the friend.
“The statute of thy beauty thou wilt take, Thou usurer, that put’st forth all to use, And sue a friend came debtor for my sake”
You will claim the legal right to your beauty, like a moneylender who lends everything at interest, and you will prosecute the friend who became a debtor on my behalf.
The dark lady is portrayed as a merciless creditor exploiting her beauty.