William Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress’ Eyes” is about his mistress. In this, he describes her in vivid detail by using similes, and metaphors to form an imagery. He also alludes to the Greek gods and goddesses. Shakespeare uses this method of comparison to convey a message: love does not conform to society, but rather with love, a lover’s view of society can conforms to the one they love. By doing so the message is much stronger than if he had just stated that he loved her. In total Shakespeare uses five metaphors and one simile to describe his mistress. He uses the comparisons to show a stark contrast between the more seemingly beautiful women of the world and his unnamed mistress. He uses popular metaphors used to describe women who are attractive such as “Coral is far more red, than her lips red” to show that his mistress has pale lips instead of the appealing red that most men desire. By doing so he portrays a woman with dull eyes, coarse black hair, bad breath (possibly, upon inferences, bad teeth), extremely pale or greyish skin, and a normal or unpleasant voice.
The final comparison is both an allusion and a metaphor “I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground…”. In ancient Greece, there was a desire for perfection. All the statues of men were muscled, well defined, tall, etc. The statues of women were healthy, fit, and only curvy enough to bear healthy children. Their images for gods and goddesses were no exception. In my opinion, here Shakespeare is using this allusion to also say that his woman is neither petite and dainty nor a perfect Greek goddess, but is of an unhealthy weight whom gets little exercise. However, the descriptions are only half of what the sonnet is really about. The other half is of his love for her. Shakespeare had an ironic gift to see beauty in the most mundane of humanity. His mistress is a prime
