Sonnet 116 has a passionate, didactic narrator. He orders and exhorts the reader. He commences in a somewhat majestic tone and does not address the object of his affections, but directly addresses his audience. “Let no man to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments.” Here, Shakespeare is stating that there should be no obstacles between two people in “true” love. By using the word “impediments,” the speaker is talking either of his or his love's ebbing feelings towards each other. He claims here that love is so completely divine, that when it is pure and true, there should be no sort of disintegrating aspect; love does not fold or bend to the like of either party. He states, “Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove.” One may say that Shakespeare here is trying to define love, but on the contrary, he is informing his audience and his beloved of the stiff, mathematical rules he has placed on love.
Shakespeare states that love is flexible. Love “bends” with all obstacles that are put in its way. Without this flexibility, Shakespeare argues that love is not true love. He then proclaims “O no...”, this is in a strong conversational tone as he moves onto another argument. Although this could be appearing to strengthen the arguments in the first quatrain, it also could be perceived as if he is trying to disprove a formerly believable theory. Here, Shakespeare is not viewing love as the uncontrollable urges of youth, as he has written about in such works as “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. It seems quite contradictory that Shakespeare first states that “love” should not alter, and then later states that love needs to alter, and be flexible. “Love” here has become like an equation: "Alter the left side of the equation, and you will alter the right; remove X from the left, and of course something must vanish from the right".
The narrator then goes on to state his opinion of “love” and what “love” is: “It is an ever-fixed mark / That looks upon tempests and is never shaken; / It is the star to every wand'ring bark, / Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.” Instead of being this unearthly wonder that Shakespeare is so famous for describing, love becomes like a bar graph; one singular point on a continuous plane that must be equally matched, unless it will become incorrect. Love, which is usually undefined and gorgeous, becomes perfectly exact; either you have true love or you do not. If you do not, any relationship should be dissolved post haste.
The speaker then goes on to describe the permanence of love, how nothing can destroy its permanence or power, we see this by looking at the two main images that sonnet 116 presents. The first is that of the exploring seafarer, out on stormy, uncertain seas with the North Star of love as his only guide through them. Love is seen as the North Star, the fixed point of guidance to ships lost upon the endless sea of the world. It is the point of reference and repose in this stormy, troubled world, "an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken;..." Even though the seafarer attempts to scientifically measure the worth of this love to him, it is immeasurable “It is the star to every wandering bark, whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.” It looks upon a tempest and remains immutable; it is like the North Star that all boughs of the trees bend towards.
However, “Love does not fall within those grimly calculable materialist laws invoked by the persona of the poem: though it is describable it is inestimable”. The speaker now reveals his desperation in trying to explain why his love has faded since love it seems, is completely immovable and utterly powerful. However, something that is so completely omnipotent should be able to keep its victims within its grasp. As it is one of the strongest forces in the living world, why cannot love bend ever so slightly to its concubines? The speaker here exudes a bitterness; perhaps he is only trying to prove to himself that he is not at fault for the loss of love in his relationship. He presents love as so utterly authoritative; it is not his own shortcomings that are preventing his happiness. He cannot come to his own aid in the face of love.
The third quatrain of the sonnet begins with a sort of foolish, affirmed self-assuredness. It also expresses the main sadness and subject of the entire work. He begins the third quatrain with the mention of two of the biggest, most intangible forces in human nature, love and time. He puts the two at war, and states that love is once again victorious, exerting its power. Here, the speaker states that love could endure time, although beauty cannot. He shows his weakness for said beauty, and as is known, the writer of the sonnets, values physical beauty above other features.
Ergo, when the subject's beauty dies, so often does true affection, but this is wrong given the maths of true love. Shakespeare may be reverting back to the practices of the ancient Greek philosophers, who rated the love of beauty as one of the principles of gaining true knowledge. While time steals away the “rosy lips and cheeks of youth,” the philosopher gains an appreciation of the eternal and ideal.
In sonnet 116, love is depicted as an invincible force that defies time as well as time's effects on beauty and youth, that is, changes such as wrinkles and old age. “Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle's compasse come.” Love, unlike the physical being, is not subject to decay. Through the capitalization of the words Love and Time, Shakespeare personifies both of these words, giving them identities, which are independent of any possessor. Time becomes godlike, omnipotent yet abstract. Love, too, becomes a powerful character, despite remaining physically intangible. Love is presented as an entity with supernatural qualities. This identity is everlasting, immortal, and unaffected be the passing of Time, which is also eternal. In many of Shakespeare's sonnets, time is often portrayed as the destroyer of all that is happy and beautiful, because with time, everything changes, happiness fades and what was once beautiful fades away and then dies. The speaker claims that his love, real love, is untouched be the cruel hand of Time. “Love,” he says, “is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken.” According to Shakespeare, true Love is more permanent and powerful than Time, hence, love remains immutable despite the changes brought on by physical decay and despite changes wrought by the world, such as storms, wars and revolutions.
There is vivid imagery of navigation in the second and third quatrain; this is perhaps a metaphor representing the navigation of the way in the country of love. The “compasse” is a representation of how love is always returning to its fixed point. According to Shakespeare, love is truly "till death do us part," and possibly beyond. Physical infirmity, the ravages of age, or even one’s partner's inconstancy have no effect upon the affections of one who sincerely loves. His notion of love is not a romantic one in which an idealized vision of a lover is embraced. Instead he recognizes the weaknesses to which we, as humans, are subject, but still asserts that love conquers all.
There is quite a change in the vocabulary and tone in the concluding couplet; this brings the sonnet to a sudden halt, disrupting the flowing rhythm seen previously in the sonnet. The narrator uses his concluding couplet almost as an ironic aside. You can almost see him speaking to his audience from behind the back of his hand: “If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” There seems little likelihood that Shakespeare thought that he had to worry about losing that bet.