Sonnet 149
Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,
cruelty
self-betrayal
unrequited love
obsession
Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,
When I against myself with thee partake?
Do I not think on thee, when I forgot
Am of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake?
Who hateth thee that I do call my friend?
On whom frown'st thou that I do fawn upon?
Nay, if thou lour'st on me, do I not spend
Revenge upon myself with present moan?
What merit do I in myself respect,
That is so proud thy service to despise,
When all my best doth worship thy defect,
Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?
But, love, hate on, for now I know thy mind;
Those that can see thou lovest, and I am blind.
What It Means
Shakespeare asks his mistress to accuse him of not loving her. He'll list all the ways he's betrayed himself for her: he has abandoned his own allies to praise her, he ignores his own eyes when they tell him she's not worth it. His cruelty to himself is the measure of his love. And yet she doesn't love him back.
Context
Part of the Dark Lady sequence.
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