Sonnet 111

The poet blames Fortune for compelling him into these degrading circumstances, asking the beloved to use their superior fortune and authority to 'chide' Fortune on the poet's behalf.

Original

Modern

1 O for my sake do you with Fortune chide,

The invocation to Fortune that shifts blame from the poet to circumstance.

I beg you for my sake to blame Fortune,

Wordplay: “chide”

To scold or rebuke. The poet asks the beloved to scold Fortune on his behalf, appealing to a power that can correct cosmic injustice.

2 The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,

That guilty goddess who caused my harmful deeds,

3 That did not better for my life provide,

That never arranged anything superior for my existence,

4 Than public means which public manners breeds.

Than through public labor, which creates public vices.

5 Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,

From this comes my name receiving a mark of shame,

6 And almost thence my nature is subdued

And my fundamental self is nearly subjugated

7 To what it works in, like the dyer’s hand:

Transformed by the marks the job leaves on me, like a fabric-worker's palm,

8 Pity me then, and wish I were renewed,

Feel sorry for me and long for my renewal,

Volta The volta shifts from blame of Fortune to direct address to the beloved, transforming the sonnet from complaint into petition.

9 Whilst like a willing patient I will drink,

I will drink them eagerly, like an obedient patient,

10 Potions of eisel ’gainst my strong infection,

Harsh remedies to combat my serious infection,

11 No bitterness that I will bitter think,

I won't call any remedy bitter even if it is,

12 Nor double penance to correct correction.

Nor will I endure double penance to correct the correction.

13 Pity me then dear friend, and I assure ye,

So feel compassion for me then, my friend, and I swear to you,

14 Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

Just your compassion will be sufficient to cure me.

Fortune as External Necessity

By invoking Fortune, the poet introduces a philosophical framework: he is not a freely choosing agent but a victim of circumstance. Fortune is the Renaissance concept of blind fate, indifferent to merit or virtue. The poet argues his degradation stems from poverty and economic circumstance, not from moral failure. Yet this claim sits uneasily with earlier sonnets' emphasis on the poet's choice and personal agency. The introduction of Fortune reframes the entire sequence as partly a document of material precarity.

Beloved's Counterpower

The poet asks the beloved to 'with Fortune chide,' positioning them as a corrective force capable of challenging cosmic injustice. The beloved's 'pity' and 'love' are invoked as superior to Fortune's blind, mechanical pressure. This suggests a hierarchy: Fortune operates mechanically on all people, but the beloved operates through conscious grace and choice. The beloved alone has the power to intervene where law and economics cannot. Love becomes the only force capable of redeeming the poet from Fortune's cruelty.

If this happened today

Someone in poverty asking their wealthy partner to help them, framing poverty as a systemic unfairness rather than personal failure—asking for both material aid and validation that the situation is unjust, not the person's fault.

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