Question

Please help!!! If you have not done so yet, conduct a brief search of the Internet to find two audio performances of "Sonnet 130." As

you listen, analyze the performances. Then write a brief paragraph of at least 100 words contrasting the two

performances. Consider differences in the reading of the speech and the interpretation of the sonnet. Which

interpretation best matched Shakespeare's intended tone? Cite specific lines from the sonnet to support your answer.

Answer 1

William Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 mocks the conventions of the showy and flowery courtly sonnets in its realistic portrayal of his mistress.

Explanation:

Sonnet 130 is an unusual poem because it turns the idea of female beauty on its head and offers the reader an alternative view of what it's like to love a woman, warts and all, despite her shortcomings. True love isn't reliant on some illusive notion of perfect beauty. Sonnet 130 is like a love poem turned on its head.

William Shakespeare does not appreciate the sonnet 130 rather he makes fun of it. He mocks it. He said that  the showy and flowery courtly sonnets in its realistic portrayal of his mistress is the source of mocking the sonnet 130.

Answer 2

Answer:

Explanation: Both performers’ readings were found at:  https://librivox.org/sonnet-130-by-william-shakespeare/

Name of Performer 1: URL of the website

David Baker:  https://librivox.org/reader/309  

Name of Performer 2: URL of the website

Catharine Eastman:  https://librivox.org/reader/83

In listening to the two performances and analyzing their voicing of Shakespeare’s Sonnet “130” it is clear that each performer had a different take on their interpretation of what Shakespeare was trying to get the reader to hear in this sonnet.  In considering the differences in the reading of the speech and the interpretation of the sonnet it is felt that the best interpretation match to Shakespeare’s intended tone was with the performer David Baker.  Baker brought out the feeling of the sonnet through the tone and flow of the way he read to the audience with more feeling of confused admiration of the dark woman’s features comparing to the love he feels for her.  He did this in the reading of the lines “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare…. As any she belied with false compare.”  The performer Catharine Eastman read this sonnet quite oppositely in that she emphasized opposite words in the stanzas making it try to have a feeling of uplifting beauty and lightheartedness where it needed to have more flow and misguided love feeling for this dark lady.  She showed different meaning than Baker to the lines “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare…. As any she belied with false compare.”    All in all, it is clear that Shakespearean sonnets are read and interpreted by many people with many different interpretations on their view of what he is trying to get across to the audience.