Immortalization of Rhetoric or the Rhetoric of Immortalization: A de Manian Reading of William Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare’s Sonnets, like any other text, is open to numerous (mis)readings. The selfdeconstructive nature of this sequence renders it a perfect example of the inability of texts to complete their own projects. Perhaps, the most significant project of Shakespeare’s work was to bestow immortality and ever-lasting life to the main addressee of the sonnets, a fair youth to whom the poet was emotionally attached. However, a number of factors thwart this project. The first factor is the undecidability of the semantic realm of “immortality,” in a way that makes any final meaning of the term impossible. The second factor is the problematic relationship which binds the poet and his young friend together, which leads to the exact opposite of what the poet intended to do, that is, immortalize the youth’s beauty and truth. The third factor is the inability of language to preserve individual traits and features, as it entails a replacement of the real thing with nothing but a signifier which is common to all things, not to an individual one. And the last factor is the narcissistic pursuit of fame and immortality on behalf of the poet himself, instead of being concerned with the ever-living-ness of the young man. The present article uses Paul de Man’s deconstructive theory in order to offer a fresh reading of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Keywords:

William Shakespeare , Paul de Man , Desire , Immortality , Rhetoric