Poetry · Chapter
Sonnet LVII explained
The speaker describes his complete subservience to his beloved, waiting endlessly like a slave or servant for any sign of the beloved's desire, and refusing to question or judge the beloved's actions or whereabouts.
What happens
The speaker describes his complete subservience to his beloved, waiting endlessly like a slave or servant for any sign of the beloved's desire, and refusing to question or judge the beloved's actions or whereabouts.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The speaker's total devotion and submission to the beloved's desires, waiting endlessly without complaint.
Truth and Deception
The speaker refuses to question the beloved's actions, accepting whatever they do without judgment.
Characters to notice
- William Shakespeare
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing his devotion and servitude.
- Love
Personified as a true fool that thinks no ill of the beloved.
Key passages
“Being your slave, what should I do but tend Upon the hours and times of your desire?”
As your devoted servant, my only duty is to wait for your every wish and command.
The speaker frames his love as a form of servitude, emphasizing his complete submission.
“Nor dare I question with my jealous thought Where you may be, or your affairs suppose”
I do not allow myself to wonder where you are or what you might be doing, even out of jealousy.
The speaker suppresses any jealous or suspicious thoughts about the beloved's activities.
“So true a fool is love that in your will, Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.”
Love is such a faithful fool that no matter what you do, it refuses to see any wrongdoing.
The speaker concludes that love's blindness to fault is both its folly and its truth.