Poetry · Chapter
XL explained
The speaker addresses his beloved, offering all his loves and acknowledging that the beloved already possessed them.
What happens
The speaker addresses his beloved, offering all his loves and acknowledging that the beloved already possessed them. He forgives the beloved's theft of his affections, yet warns against self-deception through willful indulgence. The poem concludes with a plea that despite the wrongs, they must not become enemies.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The speaker's conflicted love is central, as he forgives the beloved's taking of his loves while expressing the pain of love's wrongs.
Truth and Deception
The speaker warns against self-deception through 'wilful taste' and highlights the difference between love's wrongs and hate's known injury.
Characters to notice
- William Shakespeare
The speaker of the sonnet, addressing his beloved with a mixture of generosity and reproach.
- Love
Personified as a witness to the speaker's greater grief at love's wrongs compared to hate's injuries.
Key passages
“Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all; What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?”
Take all my affections, my beloved; what do you gain that you didn't already possess?
The speaker questions the value of taking what was already given.
“I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief, Although thou steal thee all my poverty;”
I forgive your theft, gentle thief, even though you steal everything I have, which is little.
The speaker paradoxically calls the beloved a thief yet forgives the act, emphasizing his poverty of love.
“Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows, Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.”
Graceful lewdness, in whom even wrongdoing appears attractive, torment me with your spite; still, we must not become enemies.
The speaker acknowledges the beloved's allure despite their faults and insists on maintaining a bond.