Sonnet 104

Readers of William Shakespeare’s plays, especially the comedies, will be aware of the many times he plays with the discrepancy between appearance and reality. Reality is not always what it seems, and this is an underlying motif in “Sonnet 104.” The fair youth possesses such beauty that the speaker does not want him to change in any way whatsoever, and he tries to convince himself that his friend might be exempt from the ravages of time, even though time is everywhere evident in the passage of the seasons. Nevertheless, in the three years of their friendship, the fair youth looks no different than he did on the day they met—or so it appears to the speaker.

As the sonnet progresses, however, the speaker is compelled to face up to the fact that the friend’s unchanging beauty is merely an appearance; it is not the reality. The dichotomy between appearance and reality strikes the speaker forcefully at the beginning of Line 9, in that regretful exclamation “Ah,” which conveys the sudden knowledge that he can no longer keep reality at bay. Appearances are deceptive—“mine eye may be deceived” (Line 12)—and in the end, they count for nothing.