Sonnet 144

Two loves—a fair man and a foul woman—battle for the speaker's soul; the woman may have corrupted the man and doomed them both.

Original

Modern

1 Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,

archetype: the battle between good and evil for the soul

Two loves I have of comfort and despair,

2 Which, like two spirits, do suggest me still:

Which like two spirits do suggest me still:

3 The better angel is a man right fair,

The better angel is a man right fair,

4 The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.

The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.

5 To win me soon to hell my female evil

To win me soon to hell, my female evil,

6 Tempteth my better angel from my side,

Tempteth my better angel from my side,

7 And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,

And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,

8 Wooing his purity with her foul pride.

Wooing his purity with her foul pride.

Volta The volta shifts from describing the battle (lines 1–8) to the speaker's admission of doubt and helplessness (lines 9–14). He cannot determine if his good angel has been lost.

9 And whether that my angel be turned fiend

And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend,

10 Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;

Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;

11 But being both from me both to each friend,

But being both from me, both to each friend,

12 I guess one angel in another’s hell.

I guess one angel in another's hell.

13 Yet this shall I ne’er know, but live in doubt,

Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,

14 Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

The Theology of Temptation

The sonnet draws on Christian angelology and demonic temptation. The Dark Lady is explicitly 'evil,' a 'spirit' of despair. The Fair Youth is the 'better angel,' a 'saint.' Yet the boundary between salvation and damnation is permeable—the woman's 'foul pride' can 'corrupt' the man's 'purity.' This theological framework suggests that virtue itself is fragile, easily seduced by corruption.

'One Angel in Another's Hell': Carnal Pun

Line 12 is sexually suggestive. 'Hell' was Elizabethan slang for the female genitalia. The image of one angel trapped in another's 'hell' implies sexual entanglement and suggests the woman has literally ensnared the fair man. The physical bond may have become demonic possession.

If this happened today

Like the anxiety of watching a good friend fall under the spell of a toxic person, fearing that the person you trusted has been corrupted. You cannot prove it, only suspect it; you are left in anguished uncertainty.

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