Shakespeare's 118 Sonnet

So, this sonnet (and pretty much all of Shakespeare's other sonnets) underlines an aspect of love.  For a while, I wasn't sure which one it was, but then I realized the parallels he drew to appetite and disease.  It seems that he is saying that his love has reached a period after marriage where his eyes tend to wander onto other women.  It seems that his love is not as strong as it once was, and as a result, he says he must spice up his love by seeing other women.  This poem effectively displays the conflict of lust versus love as Shakespeare maintains an apologetic tone throughout the work for his thoughts or actions.

He equates this problem to sickness, and how he must partake of preventative medicine in order for these actions to not take place in the future.  He states that he wanted to change his healthy lifestyle with his lover to one that is more sickly in that he wished to cheat on his lover.  He wanted to make his life more difficult by over complicating it with a lover's strife and to spice up his taste for women.  It is difficult to ascertain the motives behind his actions, however he seems to be apologetic in his actions and wishes to return to "health" in that he wishes to return to his faithfulness to his lover.

The initial ideal behind this poem proves to be problematic, as his love is no longer unwavering for his spouse, but he seems to solve this by saying that he won't be unfaithful in the future.  He states that he effectively "purges" himself of future desires and lustful actions.  Though the language itself was difficult, as it was not modern, through closer inspection this poem conveys its meaning through its imagery. Ultimately, this writing conveys his lust and past desire, but also his current remorse for his actions and his wish to purge these actions from ever happening in the future.

This sonnet contradicts Shakespeare's previous declarations about love in his previous sonnets, as in a previous sonnet in the packet, he claims that love is unwavering.  He is a hypocrite here because in this sonnet his love does indeed waver as he apologetically states his desire for others within a relationship.  Perhaps he is stating that at a certain point in a relationship, your eyes tend to wander towards other women, effectively ruining the healthy relationship that you already had.  Regardless of the sentiment given in this sonnet, Shakespeare remains a hypocrite when juxtaposing his previous works to this one.