The Shakespeare Code

It’s best to read ‘The Birthday Sonnets’ Part Six first.

11. (10)

For shame deny that thou bear’st love to an

Who for thy self art so unprovident

Grant if thou wilt, thou art belov’d of many,

But that thou none lovest is most evident:

For thou art so possest with murdrous hate,

That gainst thy self thou stickst not to conspire,

Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate

Which to repair should be thy chief desire:

Shakespeare continues the argument of the previous Sonnet – that though Harry is beloved of many, he loves no-one in return because he is hell-bent on his own destruction. His duty is to repair his house, i.e., himself – by having a son – not destroy it.

O change thy thought, that I may change my mind,

Shall hate be fairer lodg’d than gentle love?

Be as thy presence is, gracious and kind,

Or to thy self at least kind hearted prove.

Shakespeare asks Harry to change his mind about having a son. It is wrong that self-hatred should exist in someone who looks so beautiful. Other, less attractive people are filled with love – including Shakespeare himself, who loves Harry. Harry should be kind to other people  – as his nature suggest he is – or at least he should be kind to himself.

Make thee an other self for love of me,

That beauty still may live in thine or thee.

‘An other self’ is code for a baby boy, that Shakespeare picks up later in the Sonnets. Shakespeare now talks openly of his love for Harry – and this love supplies a reason for Harry to have a son – so that his beauty will live on in himself and his child to please Shakespeare.

12. (11)

As fast as thou shalt wane so fast thou grow’st

In one of thine, from that which thou departest,

And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow’st,

Thou mayst call thine, when thou from youth convertest.

Shakespeare argues that by having a son Harry will wax just as quickly as he wanes – that as he grows older and weaker, his son will grow older and stronger – ands a part of Harry will live on in his son. And by having a son when he is a young man he can claim this young man as himself as he grows older.

Herein lives wisdom, beauty, and increase,

Without this folly, age, and cold decay:

If all were minded so, the times should cease

And threescore year would make the world away:

Shakespeare here makes an oblique attack on Queen Elizabeth – who was nearing 60 in 1590 – ‘three score years’ and by staying, technically, at least, a virgin was facing a future filled with ‘folly, age and cold decay’. If everyone behaved like her, there would be no human race left in sixty years.

Let those whom nature hath not made for store,

Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish,

Look whom she best endow’d, she gave the more;

Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish.

Shakespeare argues that unattractive people like the Queen shouldn’t procreate – but because Nature has given so much to Harry, it is his duty to reproduce.

She carv’d thee for her seal, and meant thereby,

Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

Shakespeare claims that Nature created Harry to be her seal =- with which she signed letters – her sign and motto, as Harry is the finest creature she has made. But a seal is there to produce copies – as Harry should do.

13. (12)

When I do count the clock that tells the time,

And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;

When I behold the violet past prime,

And sable curls all silver’d ore with white:

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,

Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,

And Summer’s green all girded up in sheaves

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard:

The ticking of a clock, the transformation of day into night, a fading violet, trees bereft of leaves that once gave shade to cattle and the green corn transformed into sheathes with white beards like old men…..

Then of thy beauty do I question make

That thou among the wastes of time must go,

Since sweets and beauties do them-selves forsake,

And die as fast as they see others grow,

…..all these make Shakespeare question the very nature of Harry’s beauty as it will be subject to time and decay. All beautiful things depart from their original natures and fade as quickly as they see other beautiful things come into being.

And nothing gainst Time’s scythe can make defence

Save breed to brave him, when he takes thee hence.

Shakespeare concludes that there is nothing we can do defeat time and death except have a son which allows us to mock time and death as we die.

14. (13)

O that you were your self, but love you are

No longer yours, then you your self here live.

Against this coming end you should prepare,

And your sweet semblance to some other give.

Shakespeare wishes that Harry’s identity could be complete and permanent – but he knows that his existence is dependent on his being alive on earth. Harry should prepare for this coming extinction and give his beauty to someone else.

So should that beauty which you hold in lease

Find no determination, then you were

Your self again, after your self’s decease,

When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.

In that case Harry’s beauty – which is leased to him could transform into a lease that has no end date. Because when he dies his son would look like him and so be him.

Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,

Which husbandry in honour might uphold,

Against the stormy gusts of winter’s day

And barren rage of death’s eternal cold?

Who owns a beautiful house and lets it fall into decay without preserving it against winter and decay?

O none but unthrifts, dear my love you know,

You had a Father, let your Son say so.

Only spendthrifts – but you, who are my loved one, know this already. You also know that you had a father, Henry, 2nd Earl of Southampton, who died when you were eight years old. Have a son, so he can boast of the same thing.

To read ‘The Birthday Sonnets Part Eight, click: HERE