Sonnet XX

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,
Which 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.

Analysis

This sonnet belongs to a Shakespeare’s collection, indeed there isn’t a real title but a number to define the position of the sonnet into the collection. The sonnet follows the English sonnet structure: there are three quatrain and one rhyming couplet. Therefore the rhyme scheme is: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

The sonnet starts with a statement. He also hints that his love sums up male and female beauty in a single individual, the Master Mistress of my passion. The speaking voice tells the fair youth that he is handsome and the nature has been generous with him. In addition the speaker adds that he is totally involved by him. He is nice looking as the face of the woman, that nature has painted with her own hand. The speaker also thing that even if he has a gentle heart, he isn’t false like some women . As a result in the first quatrain, the reader can understand that the fair youth is not only attractive but also faithful. The quatrain ends with a colon, so the reader aspects an explanation in the second quatrain.

Indeed in the second quatrain, the metaphor of the woman continues. The fair youth has an honest sight, on the contrary some women are curios and theirs eyes settle anywhere. In line 6 the speaking voice connotes the supernatural powers of his beloved: his sight can transform everything in gold, the most precious metal. The beauty of the fair youth capture the minds of the men and involves the spirit of the women.

In the third quatrain should be the volta: the speaking voice stops to explain the qualities of his beloved to concentrate on his origins. He born like a woman, but also Nature fall in love for him. The speaking voice underlines how at first nature wanted to create him as a woman but since his creation was so attractive and nature is a woman herself , she fell in love with such beauty and therefore added something that was without value for a man but guaranteed a woman's pleasure. Therefore he had within the best of the male and female characteristics and they are fused together.

In the rhyming couple there is a further explanation. Shakespeare is disappointed knowing that his lover has man's shape but his love cannot  be stopped  by appearance. The poet does not want to 'have' him physically, he leaves that treasure to women, what he really  wants is his soul and he is satisfied to love the young man in a spiritual way.