Sonnet 121
'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,
reputation
shame
defiance
corruption
'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost which is so deem'd
Not by our feeling but by others' seeing:
For why should others false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own:
I may be straight, though they themselves be bevel;
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown;
Unless this general evil they maintain,
All men are bad, and in their badness reign.
What It Means
It's better to actually be bad than to be thought bad when you're not. If you're accused, let the accusation be true — at least you have the pleasure of it. The accusers are projecting their own corruption onto others; they see what they are themselves. Shakespeare refuses to accept their judgment. He is what he is; their eyes are their problem.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. Sonnet 121 is one of the most defiant in the sequence — it refuses shame rather than managing it.
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