The poet confesses that he has degraded himself publicly, going 'here and there' in pursuit of survival, acting and selling his services, yet all this shame rebounds to the beloved, not the poet.
Physical manner of movement, but also suggesting the path or journey—the poet's degrading path is marked in his very body.
Patchwork fool's costume; also suggesting a confused mixture. To make oneself motley is to become a public fool, reduced to spectacle.
The reference to 'motley'—the patchwork costume of a fool or clown—is specific and damning. The poet admits to making himself a public spectacle for survival, trading human dignity for livelihood. Images of 'hopping' and degraded 'gait' suggest physical debasement—a body reduced to commodity, displayed for money and meal. These are not metaphorical shames but concrete, embodied acts. Scholars have speculated that Shakespeare is alluding to his own work in theater, suggesting acting as prostitution.
The sonnet's most startling move is its claim that the poet's shame somehow rebounds to the beloved. The logic is deliberately ambiguous: does the beloved become ashamed on the poet's behalf, or does the beloved's love somehow dignify and transform the poet's degradation? Both interpretations seem valid. The beloved shares in the shame while, through love, retroactively transforming base actions into acts of devotion. Redemption comes through the beloved's grace, not the poet's intrinsic virtue.
Working a humiliating job to support someone you love, and then that person feels ashamed of you on your behalf—the shame becomes a shared burden, proof of the connection.