In sonnet 150, again the speaker poses questions to the mistress, and again they are questions that only he can answer. The form of questioning is merely a rhetorical device and is not concerned with gathering answers from this person, who he knows would not have the intelligence to answer anyway.
First Quatrain: “O! from what power hast thou this powerful might”
The first quatrain contains two questions: where does it come from, this force you exert to cause my heart to bend to your wishes? He adds that even though she posses this “powerful might,” he labels it “with insufficiency” making it known that he understands how lame her power really is.
The weakness of her power reveals ever more clearly how wretched the speaker has become from all of his attention paid to this unworthy woman. He knows she can only do him harm, weaken his resolve to live a moral life, distract him from his previously stated goals of the pursuit of truth and beauty. His outbursts cause his sonnets to resemble a confessional, but instead of dumping his sins onto a priest, he crafts them into works of art.
His second question asks how she has the power to make him see what is not there. His sight becomes so distorted that he has not the ability to aver that the sun shines. Her ability to attract him to filth closes his eyes to all else that is good, clean, and bright.
Second Quatrain: “Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill”
The third question takes up the entire second quatrain: how is it that you have the muscle to cause everything to turn disgusting and with “such strength” to cause “my mind” to believe that the worst things you do are better than the best that can be done.
The speaker, at this point, is nearly mad with confusion: he knows he can see how immoral this woman is, yet he feels powerless to fight against the attraction he feels for her. All he can do is moan and groan bitterly in sonnet after sonnet.
Third Quatrain: “Who taught thee how to make me love thee more”
The final question takes up the first two lines of the third quatrain: “who taught thee” how to distort my feelings? The more he sees of her unhealthy ways, that is, the more he sees of the things he should hate, the more he seems to love her.
Even though he loves what other clear-thinking people hate, she tells her she should not agree with the others who find his own state abhorrent. But he is always telling her what to think and feel, knowing it never has any effect.
The Couplet: “If thy unworthiness rais’d love in me”
The speaker then summarizes his exploratory questioning with an odd remark: since her “unworthiness” has caused him to love her, he is therefore “worthy” to be loved by her. Not even the “dark lady” would agree with this sham, even if she were capable of comprehending it.
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