Sonnet 41

The speaker forgives the beloved for being tempted by a woman, since the beloved's beauty and youth naturally attract desire; yet the beloved should have resisted for the speaker's sake.

Original
Modern
1 Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
Opening paradox: beautiful wrongs wrought by freedom
Those petty wrongs that liberty commits,
pretty wrongs = attractive, small offenses; liberty = freedom from constraint
2 When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
absent from thy heart = not in your thoughts, affection
3 Thy beauty, and thy years full well befits,
Thy beauty and thy years full well befits,
befits = warrant, account for; thy years = your youth
4 For still temptation follows where thou art.
For still temptation follows where thou art,
still = always, constantly
5 Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
gentle = kind, mild; to be won = capable of being seduced
6 Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed.
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assayed,
beauteous = beautiful; assailed = attacked, besieged
7 And when a woman woos, what woman’s son,
No barricado for defense hath left,
woos = pursues romantically; woman's son = any man
8 Will sourly leave her till he have prevailed?
But all is now by fraud and stealth betrayed,
sourly = sullenly, grumpily; prevailed = succeeded, won
Volta The volta occurs at line 9 with 'Ay me, but yet thou mightst my seat forbear'—shifting from explaining the beloved's temptation as natural to reproaching him for not resisting for the speaker's sake.
9 Ay me, but yet thou mightst my seat forbear,
The volta's reproach despite understanding the beloved's temptation
Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter,
mightst = could; seat = rightful place in your heart
10 And chide thy beauty, and thy straying youth,
In sleep a king, but waking no such matter,
chide = rebuke, scold; straying youth = wandering, unfaithful youth
11 Who lead thee in their riot even there
But all is well that ends well if this curse,
riot = excess, debauchery
12 Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth:
Might be called fair and by this name rehearse,
forced = compelled, led; twofold truth = dual loyalty (to speaker and to woman)
13 Hers by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
All losses are restored and sorrows end,
14 Thine by thy beauty being false to me.
The fault acknowledged, thou art still my friend.
Beauty as Compulsion

Lines 1–8 construct an argument in which the beloved is almost not responsible for infidelity. His beauty is a natural magnet ('temptation follows where thou art'), and his gentleness makes him susceptible to seduction. More provocatively, when a woman 'woos,' no 'woman's son' (no man) will resist 'till he have prevailed'—the line suggests that masculine conquest is virtually automatic, not a choice. Lines 5–6 use a military vocabulary ('to be won,' 'to be assailed') that presents the beloved as a besieged fortress, not an autonomous agent. The beloved's body—his beauty and youth—is his doom. He is almost innocent because he is almost not-himself; he is merely an instrument of his own desirability.

The Demand for Resistance

Yet lines 9–14 reverse this logic abruptly. Line 9's 'Ay me, but yet' signals protest: the speaker acknowledges the beloved's circumstances but then demands resistance anyway. The beloved 'mightst my seat forbear'—could have kept the speaker's place in his heart sacred. Lines 10–12 escalate this: the beloved should have 'chide[d]' his own beauty and youth, fought against his own nature, refused to be led into 'riot' by his youth. The final couplet consolidates this: the beloved broke a 'twofold truth'—he wronged both the other woman (by seducing her with false beauty) and the speaker (by being faithless). The sonnet's conclusion is that while circumstances explain the beloved's infidelity, they do not excuse it. Love demands that we resist temptation, even when resistance is hardest.

If this happened today

Someone beautiful and young gets hit on constantly. You know it's not their fault that people want them. But you still wished they'd said no, if only for your sake. You understand why they fell; you just wish their love for you had been stronger than the temptation. It's not quite blame, but it's not quite forgiveness either.