Sonnet 152

I accuse you of breaking vows, but I am guiltier—I have sworn countless oaths to false beliefs about you, making myself the ultimate perjurer.

Original

Modern

1 In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn,

In loving you, you know I've broken my vows

2 But thou art twice forsworn to me love swearing,

But you have broken your vows twice by swearing love to me

3 In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,

By breaking your marriage vow in deed and tearing up new promises

4 In vowing new hate after new love bearing:

By swearing to new hatred after declaring new love

5 But why of two oaths’ breach do I accuse thee,

But why do I accuse you of only two broken oaths

6 When I break twenty? I am perjured most,

When I've broken twenty vows? I'm the worst perjurer

7 For all my vows are oaths but to misuse thee:

Because all my vows are merely sworn to take advantage of you

8 And all my honest faith in thee is lost.

And all my sincere faith placed in you is destroyed

Volta The volta deepens rather than reverses: from mutual accusation (lines 1–8) to sole self-condemnation (lines 9–14). The speaker absolves her by taking all blame.

9 For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness:

I have sworn sacred oaths about your profound kindness

10 Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy,

Oaths about your love, your truth, your faithfulness

11 And to enlighten thee gave eyes to blindness,

And to make you brilliant, I gave sight to blindness

12 Or made them swear against the thing they see.

Or made them swear against what they actually perceive

13 For I have sworn thee fair: more perjured I,

final admission: 'I have sworn thee fair'

I have sworn you are beautiful: I am guilty of worse perjury

14 To swear against the truth so foul a lie.

To swear such a disgusting lie against the truth

Oath-Breaking as Conscious Fraud

The speaker distinguishes between her oath-breaking (which has causes, circumstances) and his (which is deliberate self-deception). He has 'sworn deep oaths' of virtues she does not possess. This is not error but fraud. Lines 9–10 are especially damning: he swore to 'thy deep kindness,' 'thy love, thy truth, thy constancy'—all things absent. His perjury is premeditated.

Eyes Against Truth

Lines 11–12 are extraordinary: he gave his 'eyes to blindness,' made them 'swear against the thing they see.' His eyes witnessed her corruption but he commanded them to lie. This final inversion—eyes as instruments of falsehood rather than truth—summarizes the sequence's epistemological collapse. Perception is weaponized against reality.

If this happened today

Like someone who, confronted with evidence of their partner's unfaithfulness, turns to themselves and says, 'But I swore you were faithful. I made myself believe you were true. My lies are worse than your actual betrayal.'

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