Sonnet 40

The speaker tells the beloved that he has taken all the speaker's loves and now possesses them, so the beloved has gained nothing new—all the speaker's affection was already his.

Original

Modern

1 Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all,

Opening invitation to infidelity as a logical test

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all,

my loves = the people I've loved romantically

2 What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?

What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?

3 No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call,

No love, of none, was ever yet the same,

true love = genuine, authentic love

4 All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more:

Yet of all love's possessing none is sure,

before thou hadst this more = before this new affair

5 Then if for my love, thou my love receivest,

But this, which now thou hast, is but the rest,

6 I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest,

Of all that beauty took or might take theft,

usest = use, employ

7 But yet be blamed, if thou thyself deceivest

And this upon thee calls the debt I owe,

deceivest = deceive, fool

8 By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.

O, pardon me, the injury of a day's neglect,

wilful taste = deliberate indulgence; refusest = deny

Volta The volta occurs at line 9 with 'I do forgive thy robbery gentle thief'—shifting from accusations of theft to absolution, reframing infidelity as a paradoxical non-theft.

9 I do forgive thy robbery gentle thief

The volta's paradoxical forgiveness: 'I do forgive thy robbery gentle thief'

That I have frequent been with unknown minds,

robbery = theft; gentle thief = paradoxical: the beloved is both criminal and beloved

10 Although thou steal thee all my poverty:

But now I swear that I have no intent

steal thee = steal away; poverty = lack of romantic worth

11 And yet love knows it is a greater grief

To look upon a page of lighter read,

love knows = my love reveals

12 To bear greater wrong, than hate’s known injury.

Than that which thy best thoughts can give me still,

greater wrong = larger betrayal; hate's known injury = injury from an enemy

13 Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,

The volta's devastating image of sin made beautiful

Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,

lascivious grace = lecherous charm; all ill well shows = all vice appears attractive

14 Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.

Till I my thoughts and thy heart-strings do out.

spites = malicious acts; foes = enemies

Sophistic Forgiveness: Theft of Non-Possession

Lines 1–6 execute a brilliant rhetorical move. The speaker invites the beloved to 'take all my loves,' then immediately asks: what has he gained? The answer: nothing. Nothing real. The 'true love' was already the beloved's. All the speaker's other loves were false substitutes for the beloved. Therefore, the beloved hasn't stolen anything; he merely reclaimed what was always his. Lines 5–6 drive home this logic: 'Then if for my love, thou my love receivest, / I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest.' The beloved is using the speaker's love, which is an inanimate possession. Technically, the argument goes, infidelity is impossible when the real love was never actually given to the other person. This is sophistry, but it's sophisticated sophistry—a way to absolve the beloved of guilt by redefining what love 'counts.'

The Paradox of Loving a Betrayer

Lines 9–14 shift from logic to emotion. The speaker forgives the 'gentle thief'—a paradoxical epithet that contains both tenderness and accusation. Line 10's 'steal thee all my poverty' is brilliant: 'poverty' can mean both lack of wealth and lack of romantic merit. The beloved steals the speaker's diminishment. Lines 11–12 then make the crucial revelation: the greater grief is not being betrayed by a rival but by someone you love. Hate's injury is cleaner; love's betrayal is more wounding because it violates the sacred bond. Lines 13–14 conclude with an image of seductive evil: the beloved's 'lascivious grace' makes 'all ill well shows'—sin looks beautiful when embodied in the beloved. The final line—'Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes'—admits that the speaker is being killed emotionally yet insists on friendship. It's heartbreaking resignation.

If this happened today

Your best friend sleeps with your ex or your crush. You're devastated. But then you think: well, I was only with that person because I was thinking about you anyway. My heart was already yours. So technically, you didn't steal anything that was truly mine. It's twisted logic, but it's what hurt people tell themselves to survive.

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