To Be Complete or Not To Be Complete?
That is the question. A new understanding emerged in me recently after years of studying Shakespeare’s Sonnet 94. I realized that in this sonnet Shakespeare was describing the virtues of a kind of human being who developed themselves beyond the biological existence into a conscious being. But before reading on in this post, may I suggest that you take a moment to read aloud slowly Sonnet 94 by William Shakespeare and then refer to it as you read my reflections about it.
To Be — A Complete Being
The first half of the Sonnet (lines 1-8) seems to be about a person who has the strength, detachment, and self-discipline to intentionally respond to life rather than react, regardless of what other people do or may think of them. Paradoxically, I interpret lines 3-4, “Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, unmovèd, cold, and to temptation slow,” as a list of sought after virtues of self-control and consciousness — those who are able to “move” others (help others grow and change), yet remain steadfast (like a stone) and conscious (not distracted by temptations). An individual who knows who they really are and remains constant.
If we consider the energy of negativity as an example of a pow’r to hurt, then this conscious being in the Sonnet is aware of this power but chooses not to use their “power to hurt” — they “do not do the thing they most do show.” Instead, through the non-expression of negative emotions they transform the negativity.
Through countless struggles and efforts, they have internalized “nature’s riches” (contentment) “from expense” (transforming suffering) and have become unified. Those who have awakened from their birth as an incomplete being (microcosmos man) are completed through a second birth into Conscious Beings and are “lords and owners of their faces.”
Or Not To Be — A Complete Being
The second half of the poem (lines 9-14) contrasts this seemingly “cold” self-controlled person with a sweet flower, describing and cautioning that sweet flowers do not have the strength and constancy of stone. Their beauty is easily moved about and influenced by external circumstances and prone to infection and decay. The analogy of a sweet flower (personification) turning sour because of their deeds makes them “smell far worse than weeds.” We expect flowers to be beautiful, which makes their descent into a sour smell that much worse. Shakespeare names a particularly potent, sweet-smelling flower—lilies—which symbolize virtue and rebirth. The connotation of virtue and rebirth makes the lilies’ festering smell and fall from heaven’s graces even more profound.
The Sonnet ends anti-climactically for the reader because Shakespeare finishes with a description of what we would not want to become. I would rather have the “descent” of lines 9-14 come before the desirable sentiments in lines 1-8 so that the Sonnet ends ascending with the inspiration of others becoming “stewards of their excellence.” However, the couplet (lines 13-14) is a cautionary tale and ends on a sour note. Perhaps it is Shakespeare’s way of pushing us into action to develop higher parts of ourselves — he certainly did!
To be, or not to be, that is the question. — William Shakespeare
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