Shakespeare’s 146 sonnet as a synthesis of the ideas of the age

Authors

  • Natalia S. Zelezinskaya Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Keywords:

sonnet, metaphor, precedent text, biblical allusion, neo-platonism, religious context, ars moriendi, W. Shakespeare
Supporting Agencies
The study was carried out with the financial support of a grant from the rector of Belarusian State University.

Abstract

This article suggests to interpret the semantics of W. Shakespeare’s 146 sonnet through a Neo-Platonic attempt at a synthesis of philosophical, religious, theological and clerical contexts, most fully and affordably expressed by Marsilio Ficino in The Platonic Theology. The semantics of the sonnet is based on the idea of the immortality of the soul, the dichotomy of soul and body, the frailty and perishability of the body, all from the perspective of the soteriological views of the Elizabethan age. The basis for this interpretation was the doubts about the sufficiency of the biblical allusions already noted by scholars, the comparative and linguistic analysis of the sonnet’s vocabulary and metaphors, revealing allusiveness in relation to the texts of Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Virgil, Marsilio Ficino and the ars moriendi of the century. The logic of the Platonic theology removes the question of the contradiction between the sonnet and the Bible and explains metaphors of the sonnet. The answer to this question must also be sought in the Reformation, the processes that took place in the English mentality in the transition from Catholicism to Anglicanism, and view this context through the prism of the transformation of the idea of the right death. This reveals the sonnet’s connection to the semantics and pragmatics of the ars moriendi genre at the turn of the century. The author points out that the main biblical precedent text for sonnet 146 is 1 Corinthians in view of the coincidence of motifs, vocabulary, imagery and structure with the verses of chapter 15 of the epistle. The article also undertakes an analysis of the translations of the sonnet couplet in order to identify the adequate transmission of the religious and humanistic thoughts of the age and the general logic of the text.

Author Biography

  • Natalia S. Zelezinskaya, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

    senior lecturer at the department of theory and practice of translation, faculty of social and cultural communications

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Published

2021-09-20

Issue

No. 2 (2021): Human in the Socio-Сultural Dimension

Section

World and National Culture

How to Cite

[1]
Zelezinskaya, N.S. 2021. Shakespeare’s 146 sonnet as a synthesis of the ideas of the age. Human in the Socio-Cultural Dimension. 2 (Sep. 2021), 28–39.