Shakespeare’s understanding of the sonnet form helps him to get his message across in sonnet 130 by allowing him to use the Volta to its full advantage to create suspense and interest in the readers and get across his message that it is not looks, but personality that count in a person.
When Shakespeare begins the sonnet by saying “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun;” he sets the tone for the poem, and continues to stick to a negative theme of describing his “mistress.” This leads the reader to think he does not like his mistress anymore, and that he might be leaving/breaking up with her. This is not what you’d expect from a love poem, and is sending a very negative message, but Shakespeare uses this to his advantage.
When, after the Volta, he says “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare.” he is using the sonnet form to switch the theme and message of the poem, by saying that despite all these imperfections in his mistress, he still loves her. This creates relief and understanding in the audience, and they then understand the message he is trying to convey: That it is not the appearance that gives a person worth, it is actually the personality in the inside that matters.
Shakespeare’s understanding of the sonnet form helped him to convey his message by misleading his audience, to then lead them in the opposite direction, highlighting their own assumptions and beliefs to make them see things from Shakespeare’s point of view.
