Sonnet 121

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< Sonnet 121 >

'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,
When not to be receives reproach of being;
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deem'd
Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing:
For why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own:
I may be straight though they themselves be bevel;
By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown;
Unless this general evil they maintain,
All men are bad and in their badness reign.
–William Shakespeare

Sonnet 121 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

[edit] Synopsis

The poet condems hypocrisy and decides he's going to be himself.

Hyprocrites force you to lose out on life's fair pleasures.

They are bad by pointing out your faults. What they see as a fault may actually be a good thing.

You have to hide your pleasurable pursuits from them.

Unless they realize that all people are bad (and presumably they will stop being hyprocrites)

[edit] Interpretive notes

A line by line interpretation into simplified, modern English:


1 You are better off being a bad person than to be known as a bad person

2 when you are actually a good person but are accused of being bad

3 and you lose the pleasure [of your activity] because it's been decided as a bad thing

4 not because you feel it is wrong but because others see it [and they have decided it is a bad thing].

5 Why should other people's fake, adulterous eyes

6 give notice to my pleasurable pursuits?

7 Why are morally weak people spying on my weaknesses

8 and counting up a tally of what is bad when I see it as good?

9 No [I reject these people]. I am what I am. Those who point to

10 my faults create their own faults.

11 I may be good and true while they are the ones who are bent.

12 Because of their bad thoughts, I will need to be secretive

13 unless they are to agree to this statement about human evilness

14 All men are bad and they rule the world with their badness

[edit] Notes and references

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