The physical beauty in Shakespeare's Sonnets

Abstract

Beauty, one of the most reoccurring words throughout Shakespeare's Sonnets, is the principal subject of the poet's meditation. "From fairest creatures we desire increase, / That thereby beauty's rose might never die," begins the first poem in the sonnet sequence; a statement about beauty that can be understood as the first articulation of the Sonnets' aesthetic agenda. Beauty in Shakespeare's Sonnets is represented in two dimensions: physical beauty and spiritual beauty. The physical beauty refers to the beauty of the body, and the sensual pleasure derived from desires. By means of the illustration of the physical beauty, Shakespeare conveyed the aesthetic world which brings readers enjoyment and delight; moreover, the poet warns readers that sensual pleasure should be based on marital chastity and social norms; otherwise, it would result in death and destruction. The account of sexual pleasure shows that, on the one hand, pleasure is for enjoying life itself and, on the other hand, for leaving behind children to make the temporary time eternalized, thus returning back to a timeless Garden of Eden. This returning course is the process of preserving beauty. This chapter only focuses on interpreting the physical beauty in the Sonnets, and the part of the beauty in spiritual dimension will be presented in another chapter.