Comparing Love In Sonnet And Harryette Mullen's Dim Lady

Throughout the ages, sonnets represent thematic messages of love and immortality while also following a strict, rigid structure of fourteen lines with a varying rhyme scheme depending on the type of sonnet. One of these sonnets, Shakespearean, was created by none other than William Shakespeare. For example, his sonnet “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” focuses heavily on loving a woman despite her ugly features; however, many modern poets break this strict structure, such as Harryette Mullen’s take on Shakespeare’s sonnet where she places a modern twist on the speaker’s view of a woman. Although both sonnets focus on the traditional theme of love, Mullen’s “Dim Lady” breaks away from the typical conventions and structure of a sonnet

Her sonnet may have fourteen lines, but it does not follow a rhyme scheme or iambic pentameter (Mullen Lines 1-14). By breaking away from the standard conventions and structure of a sonnet, she creates a creative and sarcastic method of criticizing Shakespeare’s typical male speaker. Criticizing this classic speaker plays into Mullen’s criticism of sonnets that focus on love as a whole. Her sarcastic and comedic word choice directly contrasts Shakespeare’s, which permits her criticism. Shakespeare’s speaker focuses on the woman’s ugly features in order to bring out her personality (Lines 1-14). By disregarding the woman’s looks, the male speaker obsesses over loving her for her personality, and by changing the words within this sonnet, Mullen denounces this archetype within sonnets. Sonnets that focus on romance typically use this male character that admires and adores a woman, but the speaker usually ignores one aspect of who the woman is, which is why Mullen completely breaks away from the sonnet structure. Mullen breaks down the classic male speaker by making her sonnet comedic, which allows the audience to understand love should not be based on one aspect. One should love the whole, not just a