Sonnet 111: O, for My Sake Do You with Fortune Chide
Sonnet 111: O, for My Sake Do You with Fortune Chide - meaning Summary
Reputation Seeks Compassionate Cure
The speaker asks a friend to blame Fortune for the stain on his reputation and to pity him rather than condemn. He admits guilt but portrays his reputation as shaped by public forces and compares himself to a dyer whose hand is stained by work. Willing to undergo harsh remedies—drinking bitter potions and accepting correction—he claims the friend’s pity alone would be sufficient to heal him.
Read Complete AnalysesO, for my sake do you with Fortune chide, The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds, That did not better for my life provide Than public means which public manners breeds. Thence comes it that my name receives a brand, And almost thence my nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand. Pity me then, and wish I were renewed, Whilst like a willing patient I will drink Potions of eisel ‘gainst my strong infection; No bitterness that I will bitter think, Nor double penance to correct correction. Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
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