O, call not...my heart (1-2): "The 'wrong' and 'unkindness' (2) refer not to the conventional 'coldness' of a desired mistress but to the unfaithfulness of the poet's mistress in loving 'elsewhere' (5) and in, unblushingly, allowing the poet to witness her roving eye (see lines 5-6). Thus, in terms of the conventionally cold and chaste mistress celebrated by most sonnet writers, her behaviour may be considered 'unkind' (ie. unnatural)" (G. Blakemore Evans, 257).

Wound...tongue (3): i.e., Do not wound me with your eye by refusing to look at me.

Use...art (4): i.e., Because you can physically kill me whenever you wish by using the real force of a crushing blow (or by some other means), you should not hesitate to use that power in an open and direct way, and not try to kill me by indirect means (ie. by cheating on me and throwing it in my face).

o'erpressed (8): overburdened.

Her...enemies (10): Elsewhere in the Sonnets we are told that his mistress is not attractive in the standard sense of the word and so we must take 'pretty looks' here to mean, not her 'pretty features' but her wanton glances at other men.

Twenty-four of the Sonnets are addressed to Shakespeare's mistress, otherwise known as the Dark Lady. Shakespeare never actually refers to her as such, but he tells us that she is "a woman color'd ill" with jet black hair and eyes. She is not beautiful, nor does the poet find his relationship with her rewarding in the same way that he finds his relationship with his other lover, likely the real-life Earl of Southampton, rewarding. His affair with the dark lady is based his desire to satisfy his physical rather than spiritual and intellectual needs. At times we see that his mistress is vicious and unfaithful, as is the case in Sonnet 139. Her sexual appetite is large, and she delights in flaunting her infidelities. In the later Sonnets we discover that she betrays the poet even further by having an affair with his young male lover. And yet, while she shamelessly pursues other men, the poet continues to implore her not to cast him aside. This candid and humiliating plea by the poet reveals a masochistic streak, which no doubt springs from intense vulnerability and lack of self-worth.

__________

References

Holden, Anthony. William Shakespeare: His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown, 2002.
Lee, Sidney, Sir. A Life of Shakespeare. New York: Macmillan, 1916.
Shakespeare, William. The Sonnets. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Cambridge: UP, 1996.
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Ed. A.L. Rowse. London: Macmillan, 1964.
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Ed. Tucker Brooke. London: Oxford UP: 1936.
Shakespeare, William. The Works of Shakespeare. Ed. John Dover Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1969.
Tucker, T.G. The Sonnets of Shakespeare. Cambridge: UP, 1924.

How to Cite this Article

Mabillard, Amanda. An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 139. Shakespeare Online. 2000. (day/month/year you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/139detail.html >.

Related Articles

 Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets
 Shakespearean Sonnet Basics
 Shakespeare's Sonnets: Q & A
 Are Shakespeare's Sonnets Autobiographical?
 Shakespeare's Greatest Love Poem

 The Order of the Sonnets
 The Date of the Sonnets
 Who was Mr. W. H.?
 Are all the Sonnets addressed to two Persons?
 Who was The Rival Poet?