Notes for Shakespeare's Sonnet 120


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120

1. unkind: —This word had a much stronger meaning in Shakespeare's time that it does now. To be "unkind" was to be unnatural, to treat someone who was kin as though that person were a stranger.

2. for: because of.

8. weigh: consider.   suffered in your crime: i.e., suffered because of your offense.

9. woe: estrangement.   remember'd: reminded.

12. fits: befits.

13. that your trespass: your transgression which I mentioned before.   fee: fine; compensation.

14. ransoms: redeems; excuses.   Mine: my fee.   yours: your fee.