With Shifting Change, as Is False Women's Fashion:

SONNET twenty	PARAPHRASE
A woman's face with Nature'due south ain hand painted	A woman'due south confront, colored by Nature's own manus
Hast yard, the main-mistress of my passion;	Have you, the master-mistress of my want;
A woman'southward gentle centre, but not acquainted	You take a woman'south gentle heart, simply yous are not prone
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;	To fickle change, as is the fashion with women;
An heart more bright than theirs, less simulated in rolling,	Y'all take eyes brighter than their optics, and more sincere,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;	Lighting up the very object that they wait upon;
A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling,	You are a human in shape and class, and all men are in your control,
Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.	You catch the attending of men and astonish women's souls [hearts].
And for a woman wert g start created;	You were originally intended to be a woman;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,	Until Nature, as she made you, showed excessive fondness
And by addition me of thee defeated,	And, by adding one actress thing, [Nature] defeated me,
By adding 1 thing to my purpose nothing.	By adding ane matter she has prevented me from fully having y'all,
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,	But since Nature equipped y'all for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy honey's utilise their treasure.	Let your body be their treasure, and let me have your honey.

Notes

with...painted (1): a natural beauty.

master-mistress (two): likely male person-mistress. This line is hotly debated. Please see commentary below for more.

false (4): unfaithful.

rolling (5): straying.

Gilding (half-dozen): making the object seem golden.

Sonnet twenty has caused much argue. Some scholars believe that this is a clear admission of Shakespeare's homosexuality. Despite the fact that male person friendships in the Renaissance were openly appreciating, the powerful emotions the poet displays hither are indicative of a deep and sensual love. The poet's lover is 'the main-mistress of [his] passion.' He has the grace and features of a woman only is devoid of the guile and pretense that comes with female lovers; those wily women with eyes 'fake in rolling', who alter their moods and affections similar chameleons.

Lines 9-xiv are of particular interest to critics on both sides of the homosexual contend. Some fence these lines bear witness that, despite his love for the young man, the poet does not want to 'have' him physically. The poet proclaims that he is content to permit women enjoy the 'manly gifts' that God has given his friend. He is satisfied to love the young man in a spiritual mode. But others argue that Shakespeare had to include this disclaimer, due to the homophobia of the time. "The meaning is conveyed non just by what is said merely past the tone. The statement may serve to clear Shakespeare of the charge of a serious offense..." (Spender, 99).

Note the similarity to Marlowe's poem Hero and Leander (1598):

The barbarous Thracian soldier, moved with
naught,
Was moved with him, and for his favour sought.
Some swore he was a maid in man's attire.
For in his looks were all that men desire, --
A pleasant-smiling cheek, a speaking eye,
A brow for honey to banquet royally;
And such equally knew he was a man would say,
"Leander, thou fine art made for amorous play:
Why art thou not in love, and loved of all?
Though m be fair, yet be not thine own
thrall."

Sonnets 18-25 are often discussed as a group, every bit they all focus on the poet'south affection for his friend. For more on how the sonnets are grouped, please see the general introduction to Shakespeare's sonnets.

How to cite this article:
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 20. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 8 December. 2008. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/20detail.html >.
References
Marlowe, Christopher. Hero and Leander. London: Due east. Matthews and J. Lane, 1894.
Spender, Stephen. The Riddle of Shakespeare'south Sonnets. New York: Basic Books, 1962.
Wright, George Thaddeus. Shakespeare's Metrical Art. Berkeley: University of California Printing, 1988.

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Did You Know? ... "Of the countless editions of the works of Shakespeare that show a frontispiece likeness of the poet, it is a singular fact that by far the greater number favour the 'Chandos' portrait. The face and features of Shakespeare as 'imaged' in that portrait are those with which his readers are probably about familiar. It is not like shooting fish in a barrel to account for this, since the Chandos Portraitportrait is certainly not the outset in point of genuineness, whatever may be its caste of artistic merit. Possibly information technology satisfies more fully the popular platonic of the likeness of a great creative poet than does the bosom or print just referred to. Be that every bit it may, the 'Chandos ' portrait, for various reasons, more than justifies its being kept in the custody of the nation as a very rare and valuable relic of its greatest dramatist." Alexander Cargill. Read on....