Sonnet 139

The poet begs his mistress not to wound him with her eyes but to hurt him directly with harsh words, as her glances are more lethal than her cruelty.

Original

Modern

1 O call not me to justify the wrong,

O, call not me to justify the wrong,

2 That thy unkindness lays upon my heart,

That thy unkindness lays upon my heart;

3 Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue,

Eyes over tongue

Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue;

4 Use power with power, and slay me not by art,

Power mismatch

Use power with power and slay me not by art:

5 Tell me thou lov’st elsewhere; but in my sight,

Tell me I am not loved which I well know;

6 Dear heart forbear to glance thine eye aside,

I am not what I seem; but do not say,

7 What need’st thou wound with cunning when thy might

That I am not, when thy heart says I know,

8 Is more than my o’erpressed defence can bide?

I am not what I seem; but tell me true.

Volta The volta shifts from accusing her of wounding him to excusing her, revealing his complicity in his own pain.

9 Let me excuse thee, ah my love well knows,

That I am not is not my fault or shame,

10 Her pretty looks have been mine enemies,

Though thou dost here and there do what I fear,

11 And therefore from my face she turns my foes,

Yet when my tongue doth touch thy lips to speak,

12 That they elsewhere might dart their injuries:

Straight dost thou open wide thy gate to me.

13 Yet do not so, but since I am near slain,

Not once vouchsafe to hide the truth from me,

14 Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain.

But tell the truth in thine own language true.

The Eyes as Weapons

The poem distinguishes between two kinds of violence: the tongue (direct language) and the eye (glance). The eye's power comes from its indirectness, its deniability—she can always claim she meant nothing. Line 6 reveals that she deliberately 'turns' her eyes away, making her cruelty an act. Yet this deliberate glance wounds him more than deliberate words could. Her aesthetic power is greater than her verbal power; she wounds through presence (and absence) more than through speech.

Strength Disparity and Mercy

Lines 4 and 7 emphasize power imbalance: her might exceeds his defense. The poem asks her to use less of her power—speak rather than glance, wound less rather than more. This is a plea for mercy grounded in her overwhelming strength. Yet his excuse for her (line 9) reveals his need to believe in her agency and intentionality. If her cruelty were accidental, his love would be fool's gold. He needs her to be deliberately cruel, to confirm she knows what she's doing.

If this happened today

Like asking someone to just break up with you directly instead of slowly ghosting you. The indirect cruelty—the look that signals rejection—is somehow more devastating than explicit rejection. You're begging for mercy through honesty.

← Sonnet 138 All Sonnets Sonnet 140 →