Shakespeare Quotes: The marriage of true minds

The marriage of true minds

2009 eNotes.com, Inc. or its Licensors. Please see copyright information at the end of this document. Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. "Sonnet 116," 18 "The marriage of true minds" is a phrase both widely used and difficult to understand, at least in the way Shakespeare meant it. When we speak of a "marriage of the minds" we get around the problem of what "true" means. The notion of compatible intellects is certainly part of the original phrase, but in Shakespeare the word "marriage" is less neutral; he's speaking of a total relationshipboth intellectual and erotic. "True minds" doesn't mean "authentic minds," but "faithful spirits"; "truth" in the Renaissance still had "fidelity" as one of its primary senses. If you follow this point, you can see how Shakespeare gets on to the topic of constancy in love. Love really isn't love at all, he says, if it bends under circumstances or alters because the world around it is in a constant state of alteration. Love isn't an affair of convenience, but resolute, like "an ever-fixd mark" (a seamark: some static object used to guide navigation). Like a seamark, love should weather all tempests without tribulation, serving like a star to wandering barks. The world and its lovers too are errant, and need stable principles for guidance; love is imagined as an almost external thing, beyond the shifting sensations of the lover. Copyright Notice 2009 eNotes.com, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution or information storage retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher. For complete copyright information, please see the online version of this work: http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes

The marriage of true minds