Sonnet 133 – Shakespeare

Shakespeare cries out against the Dark Lady’s power to corrupt: she has not only enslaved him, but has also taken his friend, turning love into betrayal. The sonnet presents desire as imprisonment, where the speaker is tortured by jealousy and divided loyalties. It is a desperate plea for release, exposing how passion can turn friendship into collateral damage.

Sonnet 133 – Read and Listen

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Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
For that deep wound it gives my friend and me!
Is’t not enough to torture me alone,
But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be?

Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken,
And my next self thou harder hast engross’d:
Of him, myself, and thee, I am forsaken;
A torment thrice three-fold thus to be cross’d.

Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward,
But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart bail;
Whoe’er keeps me, let my heart be his guard,
Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail:

And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee,
Perforce am thine, and all that is in me.

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Introduction to Sonnet 133

Sonnet 133 is one of Shakespeare’s most anguished poems in the Dark Lady sequence. It presents love not as admiration but as captivity, and it adds a deeper wound: the beloved has not only enslaved the speaker, she has also captured his friend. Desire becomes betrayal, and pleasure becomes cruelty.

The sonnet begins with a curse—“Beshrew that heart”—aimed at the Dark Lady’s heart, which makes the poet groan. The pain is “deep” because it is shared: she has wounded both him and his “sweet’st friend.” Shakespeare asks whether it is not enough to torture him alone. The complaint reveals jealousy, but also moral outrage: friendship has been dragged into the lover’s suffering.

Second quatrain intensifies the psychological horror. The Lady’s cruel eye has taken him from himself, and then she has “engross’d” his “next self,” meaning the friend who is like a second identity. The poet is therefore forsaken by all three parties—himself, his friend, and the woman. This is a torment “thrice three-fold,” a triple crossing of loyalties.

In the third quatrain the poem becomes a desperate negotiation. Shakespeare accepts his own imprisonment—his heart may remain locked in her “steel bosom.” Yet he begs that his friend be released. He offers his own heart as bail and guard, hoping to remove cruelty from the jail.

The ending is bleak. He knows she will not relent. Because he is “pent in thee,” he belongs to her entirely—his body, his mind, and even his friendship. Sonnet 133 exposes the Dark Lady’s power as total domination: love that takes everything, leaving nothing free.

Analysis — Sonnet 133

First Quatrain — A Deep Wound Shared with a Friend

The first quatrain opens with an accusation and a curse. The Dark Lady’s heart makes the poet groan by giving a “deep wound” to both him and his friend.

Shakespeare asks if it is not enough to torture him alone. The key line is “slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be?” The phrasing suggests compounded bondage: not only is the speaker enslaved, but his friend is enslaved to the speaker’s own enslavement.

This quatrain presents desire as contagious destruction, spreading beyond the lover to infect friendship.

Second Quatrain — Taken from Himself, and Losing His “Next Self”

The second quatrain describes psychological disintegration. The Lady’s cruel eye has taken him “from myself,” meaning he has lost self-control, dignity, identity.

Worse, she has “engross’d” his “next self.” The friend is not merely a companion; he is a second self, an extension of the speaker’s being. This makes betrayal unbearable, because it is like losing part of one’s own identity.

The phrase “A torment thrice three-fold” intensifies the suffering: the poet feels crossed in multiple directions at once.

Third Quatrain — Prison, Bail, and the Cruel Jail

The third quatrain shifts into legal and prison imagery. Speaker accepts imprisonment: “Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward.” The Lady’s heart becomes a jailer, cold and metallic.

Yet he asks for mercy for his friend. He wants his “poor heart” to bail the friend’s heart. The poet offers himself as collateral. Whoever keeps him should let his heart guard the friend, so that the Lady cannot use “rigour” in the jail.

The logic is heartbreaking. Even in suffering, the poet tries to protect his friend.

Final Couplet — Total Possession

The couplet removes hope. “And yet thou wilt” signals inevitability: she will still be cruel.

The final truth is captivity without escape. Being “pent in thee,” the poet is forced to belong to her completely, and everything in him is owned by her. His inner life is no longer his own.

This ending makes Sonnet 133 one of the darkest love poems in the sequence: love is not devotion, but possession and ruin.

Conclusion

Sonnet 133 portrays love as imprisonment and betrayal. Shakespeare is tortured not only by the Dark Lady’s cruelty, but by the fact that she has enslaved his friend as well. Friendship becomes collateral damage in the Lady’s domination, and the poet’s suffering multiplies into a “thrice three-fold” torment.

The sonnet’s prison imagery reveals the full violence of desire. The Lady’s heart is steel; her eye robs identity; her power absorbs both lover and friend. Shakespeare tries to bargain for mercy, offering his own heart as bail, but the ending admits defeat.

Ultimately, Sonnet 133 is an outcry against corrupting love. It shows passion turning into captivity, and beauty turning into a force that takes everything—leaving the lover with nothing but belonging.

Sonetto 133 – In Italiano ·
◀ Sonnet 132 · Sonnet 134 ▶

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