had relied on, by claiming the young man is singularly
loved by “all men,” regardless of their humor.
The consequences of this reversal of the hierarchy is
not recognized until the COUPLET, when the speaker
notes that to put such an emphasis on the affections of
one person subjects him to the possibility of devastating
rejection. While he has the affections of the young man,
the speaker is totally happy with only one exception—
that the possibility remains of the young man rejecting
him, taking “all this away” (l. 14) and leaving him utterly
wretched. It is the doubt of others, the possibility that
the one whom the speaker loves would reject him so
callously, that is at the heart of the sonnet.
See also SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM; SHAKESPEARE’S SON-
NETS (OVERVIEW).
Andrew BretzShakespeare’s sonnets: Sonnet 93 (“So shall I
live supposing thou art true”) WILLIAM SHAKE-
SPEARE (1599) As is common in the structure of
many SONNETs by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, this is a series
of four sets of rhyming lines. The fi rst three sets are
each four lines long, with the fi rst and third lines of
each QUATRAIN rhyming, as do the second and fourth
lines. The last two lines of the sonnet form a rhyming
COUPLET. Often, in what is called a Shakespearean son-
net, or ENGLISH SONNET, the last two lines deliver a fi nal
twist in the message.
The speaker of the poem expresses his great affec-
tion for his lover, especially for his or her physical
beauty. But this is the irony of this very melancholy
poem—the speaker knows that the beloved’s beauty
hides the fact that he or she has actually found some-
one else who they now love, making this sonnet dis-
tinct from the famously romantic ones.
In the second half of line 1, the word choice of sup-
posing shows that, at best, the relationship is going on
as if they are pretending. The portrayal, like that by a
performer on stage, is as if their love is “true,” which
does not simply mean it to be factual but also to be
faithful to a pledge or vow. The state of the relation-
ship is revealed when the speaker describes himself as
being “Like a deceived husband” (l. 2). This use of the
conditional establishes that while the speaker is not the
lover’s husband, their relationship is as profound (and
probably as public) as that of a married couple. While
a cuckold was often seen as a bawdy, humorous fi gure,
this speaker holds hope for a reconciliation.
The fi rst quatrain is actually one sentence, but its
beginning, “so shall I live,” potentially makes it an
interrogative even though there is no question mark at
its end, depending on how “shall” is read. The second
quatrain continues the internal, and possible public,
confl ict of emotions. While the lover’s eye shows “no
hatred” (l. 5), which is usually a good thing in a rela-
tionship, the speaker’s torture has not ended because
the lover’s expression is false. So the common virtue of
a lack of hatred is, in Shakespeare’s poem, an uncom-
mon sign of the vice of unfaithfulness.
The beginning of the next line presents an interest-
ing technical puzzle. The word many’s (l. 7) is written
as if a possessive, which means it would be read as a
noun, not an adjective, as is its normal use. There
seems to be a noun missing from the line’s syntax that
is being replaced by this unique possessive, such as
“many people,” “many hearts,” or “many relationships.”
Until now, this anguish may have simply been in the
speaker’s imagination or a momentary falling-out with
the lover, but once the accusation escalates to the
beloved’s own “false heart’s history” (l. 7), it seems the
speaker has evidence of a record of unfaithfulness. His-
tory also carries the added pain, for the speaker, of
something that is known and acknowledged publicly.
If so, then the missing word is something like people or
friends.
Line 8 lists signs of this false affection. The fi rst is
“moods,” or emotions, but the next two are physical
qualities of the face: “frowns,” and therefore sadness,
and “wrinkles,” which would appear with a frown but
also can be an echo of advancing age. This may show
the speaker fears the fate of living within a heartless
facade of a marriage until death.
The third quatrain brings the fi rst implication of God
and Christianity through the use of “heaven” (l. 9). To
the speaker, God “did decree” (l. 9), either to be taken
as announced or ordered, that the lover’s “sweet” (l. 10)
face belies its true meaning of falseness. If that is so,
then God wanted apparent sincerity to be a sign of sin,
though why God would wish for such a masquerade isSHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS: SONNET 93 381