This shows in ‘Farewell to Love’ where the first quatrain describes how he loved love more than a mother could love her child, and how love “shaped my thoughts” and emotions – whether he “sighed or smiled”. The second quatrain changes the thought to how others feel differently and care about “wooing wealth” and pleasure, but he still cares most about love. The third quatrain changes the thought yet again to describing why he feels this way about love when he “met the maid that realized your fair creations”(the beauty of love) and “caught your blindness” (love blindness). Finally, the couplet dramatically clinches the entire poem as he decides he is just going to give up on love because it betrays him so much and go with “thoughts that please me less, and less betray me” instead.
In the first quatrain of ‘CXXXVIII’, the reader sees the lack of communication between the man and woman, as they are always pretending to each other “in the worlds false subtleties”. In the second quatrain, the reason is brought out – even though she knows his “days are past the best”, they still lie to each other about their ages. The personal feelings of the man then come about in the third quatrain with “love’s best habit is in seeming trust”, but they still do not tell each other the truth, as they are happy enough knowing that at least they have each other and are not alone. Finally, in the couplet, they still haven’t told each other and in their “faults by lies” they “flatter’d be”.
Another way the sonnets are similar in the portraying the betrayal of love, are the techniques used. Both sonnets use alliteration, and in the second quatrain of ‘Farewell to Love’, “whole, weak, wishing heart” stresses how he would give away his own heart for true love. In ‘CXXXVIII’, “false subtleties”, “false-speaking” and “says she not she…” shows the falseness and lies that the man knows there is, but does not confront the woman about. The alliteration used stresses and brings out the feelings and thoughts of the person involved.
The same techniques are not always used in both sonnets though. ‘Farewell to Love’ uses personification, as love is being addressed, and a metaphor with “…as you shaped my thoughts”. ‘CXXXVIII’ uses rhetorical questions, for example, “wherefore say not that I am old?” to make the reader think about what the poet is trying to say. Also, a paradox is used – where the old man wants to believe what the young woman is saying but knows that she is lying.
Using a paradox also shows how the man and woman just carry on, always pretending to each other about their true feelings, and the only time they are happy is when in bed together – this is done as they make each other happy by flattering each other. This is a contrast to ‘Farewell to Love’ where the man has decided to just say goodbye to love forever and find something else in life – instead of just pretending and carrying, like in ‘CXXXVIII’.
Overall, ‘Farewell to Love’ shows how the man wants a true, faithful, meaningful relationship and doesn’t want to be betrayed in any way – “O grief! – but farewell, Love!” and “…less betray me…”. But in ‘CXXXVIII’, even though he knows the relationship is fake and betraying, he carries on anyway “…and in our faults by lies we flatter’d be”.
Therefore, both sonnets describe how love can be a betrayal – but in different ways. ‘Farewell to Love’ describes how a man is betrayed by love as the woman he loved and cared for, didn’t love him back as much. ‘CXXXVIII’ shows love even though the old man and young woman lie to each other, but both men in these two sonnets are betrayed by love.