Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

"Shakespeare here is clearly thinking in terms of the morality play or psychomachia tradition, in which Mankind, as the central character, is subjected to the promptings of personified Virtues and Vices, a tradition that received its most famous development in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus in which a 'Good Angel' and an 'Evil Angel' try to influence Faustus's thought and action . . ."


The poet does not mean 'hell' in the literal sense. Hell for the poet is the mental anguish he suffers due to his divided loyalties and the strange new development in his sordid love triangle.

Some scholars argue that 'fire' in this line specifically refers to venereal disease. They claim that the poet is saying his mistress will give his male lover the 'fire' or 'infection'. This interpretation is quite possibly the right one -- venereal disease was rampant in Tudor society.

Although his Sonnets discuss the interwoven relationship amongst Shakespeare, his male friend, and the 'Dark Lady', the somber tone in Sonnet 144 is much different from the playful humorous tone found in the previous Sonnet. The poet clearly favours the love and companionship of his male lover over that of his mistress, and he places all the blame for the affair between the Dark Lady and the Friend squarely on the shoulders of the Lady. Shakespeare's depiction of them as angels, one good and one bad, shows the unique roles they played in Shakespeare life. His affair with his male friend, most likely the Earl of Southampton, was 'nourishment for his soul', and reached beyond lust and physical comfort -- the bases of the affair with his mistress -- to fulfill his spiritual and cerebral needs.