Shakespeare's Dark Lady; Love or Obsession 2005 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor)Student thesis

Abstract [en]

This essay is a study of the conflicted response to love as experienced by the poet-persona evident in a selection of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The study focuses on which kind of love Shakespeare’s persona experiences in the “Dark Lady” sonnets as it is evident that two distinct forms of love are debated, romantic love and obsessive love. Another issue discussed is whether the sonnets imply which of these two loves to prefer and whether the sonnets should be interpreted as cautionary tales. Compared to other sonnets from the Elizabethan era, Shakespeare’s Dark Lady sonnets challenge the customary notion of a pure, sacred love when he chooses to be more true to real life. Consequently, the love the persona endures in the Dark Lady sonnets is a destructive desire that makes him mentally and physically ill. Therefore, the love described in the sonnets resembles obsessive love and the persona’s acknowledgement about its wickedness makes the suitor aware of his own moral weakness and failure to master lust.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages

2005.

Keywords [en]

Shakespeare, Dark Lady, Sonnets, Love

Identifiers

URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-13140Local ID: U12219OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-13140DiVA, id: diva2:368311

Uppsok

Humanities, Theology

Note

Denna uppsats kan beställas från arkivet / This paper can be ordered from the archive. Kontakta / Contact: arkivet@hh.seAvailable from: 2010-11-09 Created: 2010-11-09 Last updated: 2025-10-01Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

By organisation

School of Humanities (HUM)

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle ScholarTotal: 713 hits