SONNET 20

A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted 
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion; 
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted 
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; 
A man in hue, all hues in his controlling,
Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created; 
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated, 
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure. 

Volto di donna, dalla mano stessa di Natura dipinto, 
hai tu, Signore-Signora della mia passione; 
cuore gentile di donna, ma non avvezzo 
alla volubile incostanza che delle false donne è l'uso; 
occhio più splendente del loro, meno falso nel volgersi, 
che indora l'oggetto su cui si fissa; 
uomo nella forma che domina ogni forma, 
e gli occhi degli uomini rapisce e l'anima stupisce delle donne. 
E come donna dapprima tu fosti creato, 
finchè, nel plasmarti, la Natura si perse d'amore, 
e, con l'aggiunta, privò me di te, 
aggiungendo una cosa che al mio scopo è nulla. 
Ma poichè ti eresse per il piacere delle donne, 
mio sia il tuo amore e loro tesoro il suo uso. 

The sonnet was written by Shakespeare and it belongs to a collection.

It is a Shakespearean sonnet in fact it is composed by 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet.

The rhyme scheme is : ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

The speaking voice addresses to the Fair Youth. He refers to him with few details: his face (line 1), master-mistress (line 2) and gentle heart (line 3).

In the first quatrain the speaking voice exalts the Fear Youth's female characteristics: his face it's like a woman's face and he has a woman's gentle heart. Instead in the second quatrain he exalts the Fear Youth's male characteristics

It is interesting to focus on the words “master mistress”. As a malter of fact this expression hints at the fact that he is in a higher position than the lyrical I. This is underlined by the word “mistress” that literary means “ a woman who is in a position of authority or control” so, the Fair Youth/lyrical I relationship is unbalanced because she is in a superior level, like in the courteous love tradition. This is also underlined by the alliteration of the "m "sould in "master mistress".

The master-mistress is like a work of art. This is stressed by the word “painted” in  line 1. The speaking voice doesn’t say that the woman is beautiful because it isn’t necessary.  In fact the reader can perceive it thanks to the word “gilding”, that remands to the gold colour, that is the colour usually connected to higher status like  kings, God (ans so religion), and the Sun, etc... This aspect is also reinforced by the comparative  “eye more bright” that has the function to focus on the difference between the Fair Youth and  the "“false women”.

In the first quatrain there is also the contrapposition between the Fair Youth’s inside and  his outside: “woman’s face” ,“woman’s gentle heart” and “souls” so, the reader can understand that he’s beautiful inside and outside. The semantic field of the Nature in the first quatrain is also repeated in the third quatrain.

The speaking voice magnifies the Fair Youth because he attracts both men and women.

The third quatrain has the function to explain the speaking voice's feelings. The reader can understand that once the Nature has created the Fair Youth like a woman, but he was beautiful and she fell in love with him. So she created him like a man.