Analysis of Sonnet 88 When you are willing to test me, And lay my merit in the eye of scorn, At your side against myself I will fight, And prove you virtuous, even if you are a perjurer. Knowing my weakness better, on your part I can tell a story of hidden flaws into which I have fallen, which you, losing me, will gain much glory. all my fond thoughts about you The injuries I do to myself, Making you an advantage, a double advantage over me, Such is my love, to you I so belong, That by your right I myself will bear every wrong. A good example of the octave/sestet division is seen in this sonnet. This poem, although slightly beyond the rival poet's sequence, can be read, in my opinion, as addressed to the rival poet. In the eighth, words like “merit” and “virtuous,” paired with line 6 suggest a recipient of the same profession. But you can very well say that it is simply about friendship, reading line 4 as "and prove that you are right, even if you are giving up our friendship." In the second quatrain, Shakespeare supposes that he can write a story about his friend's deterioration of their relationship. 10-12: 'If by concentrating all my loving thoughts towards you, the injuries, as a result of my thoughts, which I will do to myself, were advantageous for you, but twice for me'. It is difficult to say whether "double" is hyperbolic or has some abstruse mathematical concept (as seen in sonnet 6, lines 5-10). He reflects on “gainer” in line 9, which supports reading any gain to the friend as a gain to the poet (Shakespeare). 13-14: 'Such is my love, and I belong to you even as I will bear all iniquity to bring you into due measure''.