1. Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,

2. Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving,

3. O but with mine, compare thou thine own state,

4. And thou shalt find it merits not reproving,

5. Or if it do, not from those lips of thine,

6. That have profaned their scarlet ornaments,

7. And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine,

8. Robbed others' beds' revenues of their rents.

9. Be it lawful I love thee as thou lovest those,

10. Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee,

11. Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows,

12. Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.

13. If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,

14. By self example mayst thou be denied.

Just Deserts

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Describing how his sin is loving what she hates (Henry), while her virtue is hating (Henry), reflecting that she (at least her feelings or excuse) is merely performing her state duties. That she will find there is merit to not disapproving of Henry or if there is, it is for others not from her lips. Then suggesting to her her crimes and his judgment that if she is to have for herself what she denies for her child, then she deserves not to have it at all.

1^st Quatrain: (1-4)

Here is a complex explanation of how the two protagonists’ emotions are intertwined in the story. Oxford's sin is his loving his child, while Elizabeth is praised for her virtue by others for sacrificing the child. In fact as we will see she professes to hate it, or at least hate Oxford’s loving of the child as in line 2. In lines 3 and 4 Oxford tells Elizabeth that it isn't worth disapproving his love compared to her duties to think of the needs of England. Likely a clever way of deflecting her disapproval and to reiterate that he is understanding and possibly even sympathetic to her need to perform her role.

2^nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Again he goes on to say that she needn't burden herself with disapproving his love of the child in line 5. Not with the very lips (her lips), as he goes on to say in line 6, that have abused her Tudor lineage ("scarlet ornaments"). Line 7, probably refers to breaking what the poet believes was a bond of love and effectively a marriage between them. While line 8 refers to stealing Henry whom the poet expressed as a "rent" he had paid in their relationship in being an heir to the throne.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

In lines 9 and 10, Oxford questions whether he is even allowed to love Elizabeth given their official state as unmarried. And goes on to compare how she woos others (most likely her subjects) while he continues to be persistently requesting this affection and his satisfaction from her. He then takes a swipe at her in lines 11 and 12. That pity develops in her heart and she is even capable of such, it will be her pity which will be pitied by him.

couplet (13-14),

Finally and worthy of exclamation, he explains to her that by hiding her heir, she should be denied what she denies Henry. This could merely be interpreted as denying love to which she should also be denied, but I believe possibly it is meant to be the throne itself as well. This was clearly a treasonous thing to say to Elizabeth, that she should be denied the throne to England. It would not be the only time where Shakespeare mentions deposition of a ruler of England's throne. Either way I it represents Oxford's passion and complete frustration with events at this time.

Commentary:

This sonnet contrasts Oxford’s sin of loving Henry with Elizabeth who is seemingly admired for her neglect of the child she could make heir to the throne. And contains a reference to having what is being hidden and it being intimately related to some important aspect of the subject. It also contains a pun on the word state revealing of Elizabeth’s power in “thine own state” to refer to sovereignty over England in addition to her own condition.

However more clearly than anything it touches on some very large conflict between the poet and the subject which revolves around something for which an argument of property rights and revenues is appropriate. In addition to the “sinful loving” to which the poet remarks, this same sin is hopefully understood to be the very sin for which our “dark lady” as “dark angel” has tried to influence our poet against. As well as that same thing for which he has declared love for and on which he dotes.

Given what we have already learned we can now understand what is hidden which is also an important theme as discussed and which will be utilized richly in metaphors in sonnets to come. Another important thing to point out is the connection between “sinful loving” and “loving what others do abhor” as seen in 150.

Line 5, likely reflects a reference to marriage bonds, While line 8, I believe reflects the association of Henry to their early sexual relationship. As mentioned the couplet contains what I believe is a seditious threat which hopefully is seen as a motivated connection to the larger whole.

Traditional scholarship often seems to regard this sonnet as a “romantic” poem. There seems nothing terribly romantic to me about a poem which ends in the exclamatory statement of being denied love at the very least. Scholars also seem to no offer idea of what the woman hides.

Vendler seems to confuse this sonnet as speaking in generalities. Instead of understanding that love (his) and hate (her’s) of this sonnet represent a relationship to one single entity (the child). Given that his love (of what she hates) and her hate (of what he loves) have already been expressed in previous sonnets (this ordering), hopefully it is more obvious how they are connected and reveal a bit more significance to the subject matter of the sonnets.

KDJ argues again inexplicably that this sonnet continues from the end of 141 and posits that it expresses a chiastic conceit of the poet’s own sexual sin and the women’s sexual virtue.