Duality in Shakespeare's belief system: Sonnet's 116 and 147

This short essay/blog draws comparison between the content and text of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 and 147.  Both Sonnets praise love in an idealistic way, but only Sonnet 147 advises as to the possible ill result of allowing oneself to believe in this idealistic state of love. Understanding the dynamics and metadiscourse, both screaming throughout Sonnet 116 and Sonnet 147, gives insight into the duality of the personal belief in the narrator. While every human may consider the virtues in love—each like these sonnets, examines love in terms of it as either being good or bad In Sonnet 116 the narrator starts with advice, perhaps from personal experience, with an instruction to a young audience or man. The narrator advises “Let me not to the marriage of true minds/ Admit impediments,” then tells what love is and then what love is not through comparison. On the other hand Sonnet 147 is directed towards an audience which would be of women or to a woman. Sonnet 116 and 147 are both basically about love, but I think more important than the symbolism is the concept of the dual nature in love by the narrator. In both we are told many things about the virtues and descriptions of love.  Images are presented by the lighthouse or the North Star. Or further along, still on the subject of love, changes the imagery with terms like value and calculated to time and sickle. The narrator eases along satisfied to describe what love is and is not then concludes with a claim or knock-this-stick-off-my-shoulder guarantee in both sonnets. Both poems are constructed in the same simple form and do not necessarily agree with Pinksky’s idea of the suffering lover. The entrance to sonnet 116 seems to be the jewel of the two in that the narrator takes a moment to instruct his audience as to who is being included in this and who is not included.