Sonnet 70: That Thou Art Blamed Shall Not Be Thy Defect
Sonnet 70: That Thou Art Blamed Shall Not Be Thy Defect - meaning Summary
Beauty Invites Spiteful Slander
The sonnet reassures a beloved that being blamed or slandered does not mark a flaw. Shakespeare argues that beauty naturally attracts suspicion and envy, and that such attacks actually confirm worth. Praise cannot fully bind envy, which enlarges despite virtue. If the beloved were entirely free from suspicion, total devotion would follow; even so, the poem frames slander as an expected consequence of excellence rather than a true defect.
Read Complete AnalysesThat thou art blamed shall not be thy defect, For slander’s mark was ever yet the fair; The ornament of beauty is suspect, A crow that flies in heaven’s sweetest air. So thou be good, slander doth but approve Thy worth the greater being wooed of time, For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love, And thou present’st a pure unstainèd prime. Thou hast passed by the ambush of young days, Either not assailed, or victor being charged; Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise, To tie up envy, evermore enlarged. If some suspect of ill masked not thy show, Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.