Language of Praise versus Language of Degradation In Shakespeare’s Sonnets [In English]

Abstract

Concerning the scandal about the sexuality of the people, a young man and a dark lady, addressed in the Sonnets of William Shakespeare and their true identities, the present study aims at highlighting the fact that too much concern for such matters has been paid for by ignoring the discrimination that the poet had brought against the lady. This oppressive measure is tangibly present in both the language of degradation that he uses for describing the dark lady versus the language of glorification for the young man, and also the uneven number of the sonnets devoted to each of them. To this end, the reason for this defect in the sonnets is critically detected through general and particular discussions of them in the light of New Historicism and French Feminism as theoretical frameworks.

Keywords

• the sonnets
• shakespeare new historicism
• feminism
• language of degradation
• language of praise