Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129 lays out the brutal cycle of sexual desire. The speaker describes lust as a “waste of shame” that consumes a person’s vital energy even before any act takes place. While still just a fantasy, it’s already perjured, murderous, and savage — not to be trusted. Once satisfied, it immediately turns to self-loathing. The pursuer who once hunted recklessly now hates what he’s done, like someone who swallows bait deliberately set to drive him insane. There’s madness at every stage: wanting, having, and remembering. What felt like bliss in the moment is proven to be pure misery. The final couplet cuts deep: everyone knows this truth, but nobody knows how to avoid the heaven that inevitably leads to this private hell. The mood is feverish, disgusted, and hopelessly trapped.
Sonnet 129: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame — Summary
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action: and till action, lust Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust; Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight; Past reason hunted; and no sooner had, Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait, On purpose laid to make the taker mad: Mad in pursuit and in possession so; Had, having, and in quest, to have extreme; A bliss in proof,-- and prov'd, a very woe; Before, a joy propos'd; behind a dream. All this the world well knows; yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.