Sonnet 130: It seems that Shakespeare has really evolved emotionally, especially after reading this sonnet. Shakespeare seems very tuned in to the love he has for his mistress, rather than focusing on the fact that she is absent of an alluring physical quality. "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun/Coral is far more red than her lips' red/If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun/If hairs be wires. black wires grow on her head." Line 4 evoked some interesting thoughts. Is it fair or safe to speculate that this "Dark Lady" may have been of African descent? When I read "Dark Lady", I think of a secretive or mysterious woman, but as he describes her physically, that changed. What he writes about her in the other sonnets also helps me to entertain this theory. Would it have been possible at all during that era to have had an African mistress? Anyways. As the sonnet continues I got the impression that Shakespeare really does love this woman, and that he brings up the point that love is blind. At least that is what it seemed like to me. "My mistress when she walks treads on the ground/And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/As any she belied with false compare." He seems to have moved on from focusing so much on physical beauty. He really seems to appreciate and recognize this love and care.

Sonnet 131: This sonnet was very similar to 130, in my opinion. Shakespeare writes "As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel/For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart/Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel." To me Shakespeare is explaining how a beautiful woman could allow that beauty to make her shallow and cruel. He seems to be writing about how this mistress knows she is beautiful and precious to him because of the love he has for her, and that it has nothing to do with her outer appearance. Maybe that because he loves her dearly, and because that love is pure, that is what makes her so beautiful. As it continues, it kept me entertaining the idea that his mistress could be of a darker descent. "One on another's neck do witness bear/Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place." I kind of got the idea that he finds her dark skin attractive, and that he does not judge her for that. 130 and 131 display Shakespeare's romantic side very well I think, and that is love is true, it really is blind.

Sonnet 133: Shakespeare seems to have been betrayed by his mistress. Has the OOP made a "triumphant" return in Shakespeare's life? Maybe the "friend" he writes in this sonnet is the OOP. This sonnet was a little difficult to understand, however. The impression I got was that this "Dark Lady" has this friend (OOP?) in her grasp (for lack of a better word)."Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan/For that deep wound it gives my friend and me/Is't not enough to torture me alone/But slave to slavery my sweet'st friend must be?" It seems that maybe she has seduced not just Shakespeare, but his friend as well, and the end result has been heart-break. "Prison my heart in thy steel bosom's ward/But then my friend's heart let my poor heart bail." It seems that Shakespeare is asking to sacrifice his own heart so that his friend can be freed from this pain she has caused him. "Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail/And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee/Perforce am thine, and all that is in me." To me it seems that Shakespeare is trapped by his love, and that this mistress will continue to cause him pain because she has his heart. Or maybe it is the other way around. Maybe the OOP has returned and is hurting Shakespeare and his mistress. Who really knows...just a thought that occurred to me.

Shakespeare really comes off to me as somebody who, when loving another,loves them entirely. I have received the impression countless times that Shakespeare is a passionate romantic, and is very aware of the emotions he feels, and how intensely he feels them. After reading these sonnets, and the others, Shakespeare seems like a person who can admit their own faults, and admit a once-existing naivety before evolving to a level where he sees everything more clearly. If that made any sense. The writer behind these sonnets seems incredibly human. He feels sadness, happiness, anger, frustration, doubt, confusion, lust, etc. And questions the people and things in life as they come and go. To me, he was a very passionate individual, and was more content in his own skin as he evolved as a person. I get this impression from how his writing has evolved.