Sonnet 144: Two Loves I Have, of Comfort and Despair
Two loves I have, of comfort and despair, Which like two spirits do suggest me still: The better angel is a man right fair, The worser spirit a woman coloured ill. To win me soon to hell, my female evil Tempteth my better angel from my side, And would corrupt my saint to be a devil, Wooing his purity with her foul pride. And whether that my angel be turned fiend, Suspect I may, yet not directly tell; But being both from me both to each friend, I guess one angel in another’s hell. Yet this shall I ne’er know, but live in doubt, Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
Sonnet 144: Two Loves I Have, of Comfort and Despair - meaning Summary
Two Conflicting Loves
The sonnet presents the speaker split between two loves personified as opposing spirits: a "better angel" embodied by a fair man and a "worser spirit" in a corrupt woman. The woman tempts and threatens to corrupt the man, creating suspicion and moral anxiety. The speaker cannot know whether his angel will be turned into a fiend and remains trapped in unresolved doubt, anticipating the bad love might extinguish the good.
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