Aesthetics in William Shakespeares Sonnets

Abstract

This study focuses on aesthetics in William Shakespeare's sonnets. It shows the dominant aesthetic aspects of the sonnets. It uses theories of intertextuality and semiotics in terms of aesthetics. Study of theories of Roman Jakobson (1896-1982) and Roland Barthes (1915-1980) regarding semiotics in Shakespeare's sonnets shows metaphors of the sonnets as aesthetic signs. This study presents how metaphors of signs are aesthetic metaphors in the sonnets in order to create beautiful sonnets. Furthermore, this study is concerned with studying lyrical imageries and epic imageries as intertextuality and aesthetics in Shakespeare's sonnets. Theories of Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), Julia Kristeva (1941), and Roland Barthes concerning intertextuality are used in order to disclose multiplicity of meanings and interpretations in Shakespeare's sonnets. Therefore, this study reveals these signs as intertext from past to Shakespeare's period in the sonnets. It presents that Shakespeare chose signs from many previous sources, and modified and combined them as aesthetic and intertextual signs. Therefore, Shakespeare's sonnets are intertexts, as a place of the intersection of several sources and the mixture of preceding texts and signs. All metaphorical, lyrical, and epic imageries show the beautification and aesthetic form of Shakespearean sonnets. Key words: Aesthetics, intertextuality, lyric, semiotics, Shakespearean sonnets.