Sonnet 43

In the collection, “Sonnet 43” directly follows Sonnets 40-42, which explore the betrayal of The Fair Youth, who has become involved with the speaker’s mistress. Often considered a love poem, “Sonnet 43” resonates more as a discussion of both the speaker’s desire for, and repulsion from, the man who has betrayed the speaker. The Fair Youth (presented as the beloved “thee” [Line 3] in the sonnet) is both referenced as a real person—with whom the speaker was physically engaged—as well as an emotional concept of love and/or passion. The beloved is portrayed as a bright entity that both illuminates and eradicates the speaker’s world. By dreaming, the speaker keeps the beloved in their life and yet, simultaneously, allows the beloved to obliterate their life.

As the poem begins, the speaker asserts that “when most I wink, then do mine eyes best see” (Line 1). They insist that when they “wink” (Line 1)—meaning sleep—they are visited by particular visions of the beloved that are the “best” (Line 1). This description suggests that what they dream or imagine is either the most pleasing viewpoint or the most clear and truthful version of the relationship. Scholar Helen Vendler has pointed out that the poem’s phrasing moves from highlighting “supercompetent eyes that best see, that look on the object; to unseeing eyes passively illuminated by a shade that shines; to sightless eyes on which rests an imperfect shade” (Vendler, Helen.