The Degradation Of Lust In Shakespeare's Sonnet 129

Before writing Sonnet 129, I feel as though Shakespeare has a one-night stand that he regretted a great deal. The speaker is most likely a man (but the same feelings can be applied to women as well) that is lusting after a woman (or man). He/she expresses that lust in a sexual act of some kind, and as a result suffers an immense amount of degradation from him/herself. The tone seems angry and turbulent, as though the speaker (or Shakespeare) is giving himself a sermon on being faithful and true; it is possible that the speaker has a wife and has committed adultery, or that the speaker is lusting after someone that society doesn’t want him to – someone of the same sex perhaps. The main theme of this sonnet could be that everyone knows that lust

Another word that stuck out in this first statement was the use of the word “action.” At first glance, the reader could sum up the statement “lust in action” by meaning a sexual experience has happened because of this lust. Although, after consulting the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “action” took on a whole different significance. As stated in the OED, action means foremost “something that is done,” but can also be a law term described as “a legal process, a lawsuit.” A definition such as this could lead the observer to deduce that there is a sort of “legal battle” happening between the speaker and lust – demonstrating a personification of lust. The next line and statement be the speaker’s case against lust: calling it “murd’rous, bloody, full of blame, savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust” – explaining all the reasons why lust should be “locked up” for