Sonnet 88
When thou shalt be disposed to set me light,
selflessness
love
shame
sacrifice
When thou shalt be disposed to set me light,
And place my merit in the eye of scorn,
Upon thy side against myself I'll fight,
And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forsworn.
With mine own weakness being best acquainted,
Upon thy part I can set down a story
Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted,
That thou in losing me shalt win much glory:
And I by this will be a gainer too;
For bending all my loving thoughts on thee,
The injuries that to myself I do,
Doing thee vantage, double-vantage me.
Such is my love, to thee I so belong,
That for thy right myself will bear all wrong.
What It Means
When the young man decides to dismiss Shakespeare, Shakespeare will help him do it. He will argue against himself, produce his own faults, support the case for his worthlessness — all to make the young man look better. Whatever shame he causes Shakespeare, Shakespeare will accept it. He finds a kind of profit in it, because he loves the young man enough to lose himself for the young man's sake.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence.
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