God

God is both a tangible force and a symbol for the speaker of the Holy Sonnets. God symbolizes the speaker's desire for salvation at the same time that God foregrounds the speaker's anxiety about death. For the speaker, addressing sonnets to God allows him to frame the poems as prayers or meditations that typically end on a problematic, rather than affirmative, note. God is symbolized in two major ways in the sonnets: through Christ, the son, and through God, the father.

Satan

Satan, like God, is a character as well as a symbol for the speaker in the Holy Sonnets. While God represents salvation, Satan represents the antagonistic forces at work to prevent the speaker—and all Christians—from reaching that point. The speaker is continually tempted by Satan, which is how the speaker articulates his desire for earthly pleasures interfering with his devotional practice.

The Body