Shakespeare

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Shakespeare
And Immortality

The search for immortality has troubled philosophers since the dawn of human
race. Numerous historic figures, including Ramses XV of Egypt and Julius Caesar
of Rome, have tried to achieve physical immortality through various superficial
measures. Magicians of the ancient kingdoms have struggled to find a way to stop
the aging process of a human being. All those attempts have proved to be
unsuccessful and as of today there is no proven method that enables a person to
live forever. However, the Renaissance age brought radical changes to human
perception of life. No longer a person could remain passive about the course
that their life takes. Renaissance man was expected to strive for higher
achievements in every aspect of life. This included political, financial and
cultural aspects. These ideas paved way for a new concept of immortality -
immortality through art. Da Vinci painted “Mona Lisa” and became immortal
through legacy that he left behind him. Beethoven wrote his “5th Symphony”
and he is still remembered for it. These ideas of eternal life were mirrored in
poetry of William Shakespeare - the Renaissance man of England. In a number of
his sonnets Shakespeare talks about immortality from diverse points of view. It
is a wonder how Shakespeare can take an issue and approach from different
perspectives and each time the same issue is presented in new light, and charged
with new emotions. There are two basic ways in which Shakespeare relates to the
idea of immortality. In first approach the author describes eternal life through
a chain of comparisons and multiple meanings of the same words. In sonnet number
5 poet associates a person with a flower. A flower that is beautiful in its
younger years yet as the time Will play the tyrants to the very same, And that
unfair which fairly doth excel; (5.3-4) it makes unattractive that which now
excels in beauty, and eventually leads to flower’s death. The sonnet goes on
to mention the process through which fragrances are extracted from flowers, and
it further states that even after the flower is long gone, it is remembered
every time someone recognizes its sweet smell. In this poem, Shakespeare makes a
direct comparison with real life, because just as a plant is remembered for its
attractive smell, people are remembered for their good deeds even long after
their death. Similar ideas are presented in sonnet number 54. In this sonnet the
author talks about people who are beautiful on the ou...

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