In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129, readers are faced with a speaker who seems to have gone through many stages of lust. It was written in 1609 toward the end of Shakespeare’s life. He was a married man at the time which seems to be evident by his description of what he feels lust is. This sonnet depicts women as objects of desire which are almost traps for men to walk into. While on one hand the speaker gives a wonderful compliment to females as a whole, within the same line he ridicules them on various occasions. He claims that lust leads to love and marriage, and although the rising action may be intense and emotionally provocative, the climax of love is anti-climactic at best. The idea of love seems less than favorable, due to the fact that lust seems to be so desirable. This piece shows that the ideology of love and lust goes far beyond the 20-21st centuries and dates back to the 14-15th.

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Sonnet 129: Th'expense of spirit in a waste of shame
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight,
Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

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