Experiencing Different Emotions and Struggles in...

Through different types of readings of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146, the reader is able to access the depth and difference in meaning among the alternate readings. The general reading of Sonnet 146 allows the reader to experience the inner-emotions are meaning behind the text, of the struggle and battle between the speakers soul and the earthly indulgences he immorally takes advantage of at the expense of his soul’s immortality. However the contextual reading presents are new argument to the sonnet, where it can be analysed differently to a general reading. In Shakespearean time sonnets were ultimately love poems, as Sonnet 146 appears to stand out from the rest as the speaker talks of his soul’s immortality and not of love. Although by understanding the context of the time the sonnet was written, scholars have come to understand, there may have been another meaning behind the sonnet, one referencing the speakers love for his mistress and how she is the centre of the sinfulness of earth, the speaker pities his lover as sees her morality and knows he must leave her, in order for his soul to be made merciful. Through the different readings of the text the reader is able to interpreted and understand how they present an alternative connotation. Throughout all Shakespeare’s sonnets there is one that stands out from most, Sonnet 146. The speaker addresses this sonnet to his soul; this presents great level of depth as the speaker expresses his feelings about how he is overwhelmed