Sonnet 35
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
betrayal
forgiveness
love
complicity
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.
What It Means
Shakespeare reverses himself. Stop grieving, he tells the young man — roses have thorns, springs have mud, all perfection has its corruption. Shakespeare makes excuses for whatever wrong was done, then turns the accusation on himself: by making excuses for you, I become an accessory. My love for you is at war with my sense of right and wrong, and I'm trying to be your lawyer while you stole from me. It's a remarkably honest self-examination.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence, the third in the sequence dealing with the young man's wrongdoing (33–35). Scholars debate what the wrong was — possible infidelity with Shakespeare's own mistress.
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