Sonnet 121: Tis Better to Be Vile Than Vile Esteemed

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SONNETCAST – William Shakespeare's Sonnets Recited, Revealed, Relived not yet transcribed

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Recorded23 Feb 2025

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Handlerec:7831570

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With Sonnet 121, William Shakespeare claims his right to be who he is and negates the authority of others to pass judgement on him and his actions, specifically those who themselves are not morally or ethically superior to him but who would appear to project their own corrupted values and jaded view of the human being onto those around them. In doing so, he stakes out a territory of moral autonomy for himself where he alone may determine whether his actions are in fact reprehensible or whether they are simply thought to be so by others, when to him they are the source of rightful delight and pleasure.

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