A Comparison Between Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare and Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars

In Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare and Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars are very similar in many ways. They both talk about their mistresses and have the same concept of a lady that is perfect in any way shape or form. However, the song and the sonnet have major differences; the song says the lady is perfect and that she's flawless but the sonnet states her flaws throughout the whole thing. The differences can be seen by the literary devices of tone, imagery and symbolism.

The difference of tone within the pieces of work are easily seen. The song was very affectionate. It listed every feature of the lady in a positive way. "Her laugh, her laugh, she hates but think it's so sexy" (Mars 18). Bruno Mars intended on pointing out the lady's "perfections" through his eyes. The tone here was affectionate because it talked about her laugh and how he thought that it was sexy. However, in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare wrote "...That music hath a far more pleasing sound.." (Shakespeare 10). This sentence meant that the mistress's voice was not pleasant. Music had a far better sound than her voice. The tone here was disapproving because Shakespeare was comparing her voice to music and that music sounded better than her voice. The differences in Just The Way You Are and Sonnet 130 can be seen with the tone. The song had a more affectionate tone while the sonnet had a disapproving/disappointed tone.

Another difference that the song and the sonnet had was that the imagery produced completely different images. They were the complete opposite of each other. In the song it says "...her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like they're not shining.." (Mars 1). Bruno Mars described her eyes as being bright. The imagery here was used in an admiring way because he compared it to the stars. In contrast, Sonnet 130 used imagery to describe the eyes in the opposite way than the song did. "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.." (Shakespeare 1). He said that her eyes are not bright and that they are dark. The imagery used here was to describe the eyes in a bit of a negative way. He used a negative connotations when he wrote the sentence. Shakespeare intended on making her eyes seem ordinary and that they were not special. The Sonnet 130 used imagery to describe in a negative way and the song was using imagery to describe in a positive way.

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The last difference between Just the Way You Are and Sonnet 130 is the attitude. The attitude used in the song were used to express the feelings. The attitude seemed happy more upbeat. "She's so beautiful.....and I tell her everyday" (Mars 3-4). The attitude here was positive because a negative person wouldn't go out of their way to tell someone that they looked beautiful. The sonnet however approached a different attitude. The sonnet notes "And in some perfumes is there more delight; Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks" (Shakespeare 7- 8). The attitude this line was that Shakespeare was resentful because he compared her to perfume. He wrote "reeks" to describe the mistress' breath and it has a negative connotation associated with it. Shakespeare wrote that there is more delight in smelling perfume than his wife's breath which could be taken as a resentful attitude; he could've had better and settled for what he got. The attitude in the song was more passive and happy and the sonnet was more resentful and sounded full of regret.

The differences in Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare and Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars can be seen by the literary devices tone, imagery and attitude. They were complete opposites of each other and had different connotations.

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