Published in 1609, Shakespeare’s Sonnets appear as part of a rich tradition of sonnet sequences, which had reached its peak in England in the nineties of the sixteenth century. The poet necessarily places himself within this tradition but, far from subjecting himself to a passive imitation of the established model, achieves a radically original result. However, this innovative impetus does not animate every part of the text. While the first section, dedicated to the Fair Youth, appears very close in style and meaning to the Petrarchan and Neoplatonic poetic model, the second part emerges as a drastic opposition to this paradigm. Nevertheless, critics have generally paid scarce attention to the Dark Lady sonnets, summarily dismissing them as an example of parodic inversion of the Petrarchan model, and thus avoiding an examination of their profound revolutionary character. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that, far from resolving itself in a punctilious overturn of the model in a parodic key, this opposition to the “orthodox” paradigm gives birth to a deep reflection on the philosophical truth of human nature, and consequently on the art that is called to express this truth. All the principles at the base of the Petrarchan model are made to collapse, giving way to a new ontological and aesthetic paradigm. The passage from the idealized beauty of the Petrarchan lady to the Dark Lady’s “material” body leads to a transition from the “impersonal” Neoplatonic love, directed towards Beauty as an archetypal entity, to a more human desire for the individual in its singularity. At the same time, the lady’s moral imperfection engenders a new concept of “pity”: an authentic com-passion, based on the awareness that lover and beloved share the same, equally “frail” nature. Moreover, violating one of the main precepts of the Petrarchan and Neoplatonic model, the Dark Lady, by giving in to her sensual desires, opens up new possibilities to poetry, which is finally able to describe lust “in action”. A ferocious and “extreme” consummation, which is nonetheless to be accepted as a legitimate and powerful element of human nature. This concept necessarily implies a philosophical paradigm different from the “orthodox” one, severely based on Christian and Neoplatonic principles. Through a subtle terminological choice, the poet calls into question the traditional dichotomy between soul and body, celestial and earthly Venuses, in order to reveal their inconsistency in the moment in which he shows the nature of man and of the universe to be an indissoluble union of spirit and matter. Moreover, the principle of (sexual) pleasure is seen as acquiring a specific dignity within the revolutionary discourse led by the poet, and becomes a yardstick by which love can be judged and appreciated. Finally, I will investigate the “honesty” of the poetic language and the relationship between art and nature as it appears in the Sonnets. Within the poet’s profound meditation on the ethical problem posed by the falsifying character of eulogistic language, the poetic program aimed at condemning the metaphorical process proper to Petrarchan tradition triumphs in the sonnets devoted to the Dark Lady. Art renounces thus its demiurgic power to become an authentic reflection of the object it wants to signify, and it is precisely in this renewed relationship between art and nature that this revolutionary poetry finds its new and deepest power.
Breaking the Rules. The Subversive Nature of Shakespeare’s Sonnets to the Dark Lady
Caporicci C
2016
Abstract
Published in 1609, Shakespeare’s Sonnets appear as part of a rich tradition of sonnet sequences, which had reached its peak in England in the nineties of the sixteenth century. The poet necessarily places himself within this tradition but, far from subjecting himself to a passive imitation of the established model, achieves a radically original result. However, this innovative impetus does not animate every part of the text. While the first section, dedicated to the Fair Youth, appears very close in style and meaning to the Petrarchan and Neoplatonic poetic model, the second part emerges as a drastic opposition to this paradigm. Nevertheless, critics have generally paid scarce attention to the Dark Lady sonnets, summarily dismissing them as an example of parodic inversion of the Petrarchan model, and thus avoiding an examination of their profound revolutionary character. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that, far from resolving itself in a punctilious overturn of the model in a parodic key, this opposition to the “orthodox” paradigm gives birth to a deep reflection on the philosophical truth of human nature, and consequently on the art that is called to express this truth. All the principles at the base of the Petrarchan model are made to collapse, giving way to a new ontological and aesthetic paradigm. The passage from the idealized beauty of the Petrarchan lady to the Dark Lady’s “material” body leads to a transition from the “impersonal” Neoplatonic love, directed towards Beauty as an archetypal entity, to a more human desire for the individual in its singularity. At the same time, the lady’s moral imperfection engenders a new concept of “pity”: an authentic com-passion, based on the awareness that lover and beloved share the same, equally “frail” nature. Moreover, violating one of the main precepts of the Petrarchan and Neoplatonic model, the Dark Lady, by giving in to her sensual desires, opens up new possibilities to poetry, which is finally able to describe lust “in action”. A ferocious and “extreme” consummation, which is nonetheless to be accepted as a legitimate and powerful element of human nature. This concept necessarily implies a philosophical paradigm different from the “orthodox” one, severely based on Christian and Neoplatonic principles. Through a subtle terminological choice, the poet calls into question the traditional dichotomy between soul and body, celestial and earthly Venuses, in order to reveal their inconsistency in the moment in which he shows the nature of man and of the universe to be an indissoluble union of spirit and matter. Moreover, the principle of (sexual) pleasure is seen as acquiring a specific dignity within the revolutionary discourse led by the poet, and becomes a yardstick by which love can be judged and appreciated. Finally, I will investigate the “honesty” of the poetic language and the relationship between art and nature as it appears in the Sonnets. Within the poet’s profound meditation on the ethical problem posed by the falsifying character of eulogistic language, the poetic program aimed at condemning the metaphorical process proper to Petrarchan tradition triumphs in the sonnets devoted to the Dark Lady. Art renounces thus its demiurgic power to become an authentic reflection of the object it wants to signify, and it is precisely in this renewed relationship between art and nature that this revolutionary poetry finds its new and deepest power.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
