Sometimes we look at a poem or a piece of literature written far before our time and begin reading assuming that the phrases will be difficult to decipher and the meaning deep below the surface. However, if you take a step back, the message may be more clear than you anticipated.
William Shakespeare wrote many sonnets about the love he felt towards his friends and lovers. His famous Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is a recognizable verse even in modern day society. However, it seems that Shakespeare not only felt love towards his lady friends, but he might also have had homosexual sentiments. This same sex romance is evident in Sonnet 20. In the second line of the sonnet, Shakespeare juxtaposes two very contrasting ideas of master and mistress. They are hyphenated, showing that his lover is both of these qualities to him. A master is typically someone with power in society or a relationship; in the sixteenth century the men held the respect and dominance in society. The idea of master is contrasted with the idea of mistress. Mistress is a term that usually has a subordinate, sexual, and feminine connotation. Shakespeare begins the poem by opposing these two words, making them stand out and subtly hinting to the reader that the recipient of this sonnet is not the typical heterosexual lover one would expect. Shortly after, Shakespeare describes his lover as having a "woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted/ With shifting change, as is false women's fashion." He says that his lover has feminine characteristics, but that there is something that differentiates them from women. Three lines down, we figure out the difference. Shakespeare is referring to a man! "A man in hue, all hues in his controlling." Shakespeare is in love with another male who happens to be slightly more feminine than most. William Shakespeare's Sonnet 20 blatantly confesses his homosexual love through juxtaposition and diction.
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