Sonnet 20 | Jonathan Broadbent | Sonnets in Solitude

‘A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted’
Actor Jonathan Broadbent performs Shakespeare's famously puzzling Sonnet 20, in lockdown. The language in this sonnet is slippery and self subverting. It suggests you are more beautiful than a woman, and have more allure, but nature fell in love with you and gave you the equipment to give pleasure to women. Nevertheless, you must stay constant to me. The poet argues - you look like both a man and a woman, and everyone is attracted to you. I can love you, but your love-making is really for women.
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