Shakespeare Sonnet 111
O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide
According to Gary Goldstein, editor of Elizabethan Review, “In 1586, to rescue him from penury, the Queen granted the Earl an annual pension of £1,000.” The speaker in sonnet 111 reveals that he has not acquitted himself well in supporting his life financially, and he must take “public means” for his subsistence.
First Quatrain: “O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide”
The speaker in sonnet 111 addresses his Muse, continuing his confessional mode from sonnet 110. This time he is broaching the subject of his finances. He feels that he is being “chide[d]” by his Muse as well as by Fortune. He distances himself, at least a short way, from the blame, as he implies that he is the victim of “the guilty goddess of my harmful deeds.”
Those harmful deeds caused him to lose his inheritance, and only by the grace of the Queen is he sustained financially. He is ashamed that he “did not better for [his] life provide,” because taking public assistance causes him to breed “public manners.”
Second Quatrain: “Thence comes it that my name receives a brand”
Because of his having to take “public means,” he then has to perform certain duties that are distasteful to him. He is probably referring to having to write and stage the plays out of financial necessity rather than out of pure inspiration and love of the art.
His name becomes “a brand,” quite possibly the reason he used the pseudonym, “William Shakespeare.” At least this way, he keeps a portion of his privacy and dignity.
He reveals to the Muse that his nature, while working the plays, takes on the tincture of theatre life, “like the dyer’s hand,” and he begs the Muse to take pity on him and “wish [he] were renew’d.”
Third Quatrain: “Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink”
Even though he must “drink / Potions of eisel ‘gainst [his] strong infection,” he will not become bitter in his thinking. He will not allow his public endeavors to taint his true love of sonnet creation based on love and truth.
The speaker is again using the negativity that appears in his life to structure his spiritual endeavors. By consulting with his Muse and asking her to pity him, he removes the glare of his public image that he feels does not represent his true self.
The Couplet: “Pity me, then, dear friend, and I assure ye”
So again, he implores his Muse to “pity [him].” And calling her “dear friend,” he asserts that just that small amount of pity will erase the error of having to involve himself in worldly endeavors.
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