You might find yourself in a pickle, when someone says “I love you”. Commitment can be difficult for some. It can also be wonderful. However, there is another three word phrase that off the sweetest tongue will reign terror on your life. “Sonnet 145” explores the panic of someone who has the heard the first two words of that phrase. I hate–
“Sonnet 145”
by William Shakespeare
Those lips that Love’s own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said ‘I hate,’
To me that languish’d for her sake:
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
‘I hate’ she alter’d with an end,
That follow’d it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away;
‘I hate’ from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying — ‘not you.’
“For where thou art, there is the world itself, and where though art not, desolation.” -Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part 2
Phew! That was close. “I hate you” can be the sharpest sting. The point of an argument when the flood gates are released. Through the perspective of Shakespeare’s anxiety, he artfully captures the terror of your loved ones saying they hate you. Whether it be a partner, a sibling, or a child, those words can swallow your soul.
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” –Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well