English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
Sonnet 35
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Shakespeare uses the vocabulary of legal confession. In an essay by Katherine Craik, she discusses the connection between this sonnet and the early criminal confession. Craik says, "the speaker testifies against the unspecified 'trespass' of a 'sweet thief,' but simultaneously confesses to playing 'accessory' to the robbery."
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud: Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun, And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud. All men make faults, and even I in this, Authorizing thy trespass with compare, Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss, Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are; For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense, - Thy adverse party is thy advocate, - And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence: Such civil war is in my love and hate, That I an accessary needs must be, To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.