SONNET - 144 SUMMARY

 Sonnet No 144:

Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turned fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
   Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
   Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

The poet has two loves, his mistress and the Earl of Southampton. Shakespeare's love for the Earl of Southampton is a matter of comfort. His love for his mistress is a matter of despair and distress. This kind of contrary effects for his love makes him stupefied. The better of the two is the one -the Earl with a fair of complexion. The worst is the woman - the poet's wife who is a woman of conceit. In order to send the poet soon to hell his wife tempts his friend from his side. The poet has his own fear that his wife might corrupt his friend into a devil by her diabolic sexual machinations. His friend at present is saintly. She woos a man of purity with her foul pride. The poet is afraid that his friend might turn his enemy.  The poet shall remain in doubt about the result until he comes to know of the bad impact on his angelic friend.

Reference: shakespeare-sonnets.com