"But if thou live rememb'red not to be . . ."

[Flask]

"But if thou live rememb'red not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee."
-- Shakespeare, Sonnet 3, lines 13-14

Regarding this closing couplet of Shakespeare's third sonnet, I've been having trouble deciding how the phrase "rememb'red not to be," which I take to be a rearrangement of "not to be rememb'red," relates grammatically to the rest of the "if"-clause. Judging by some paraphrases I've seen of that line, I think that many people treat it as an infinitive of purpose, an "in order to" infinitive without "in order": "But if thou live in order not to be remembered . . ."

That parsing doesn't sit well with me from a semantic standpoint. I don't think Shakespeare had in mind someone striving to live so as not to be remembered. Rather, it seems to me that he had in mind someone who lives such that he is not remembered afterwards. I think that it is the type of infinitive that I am accustomed to seeing and using with "only." For example: "He played on the team for five years, only to be replaced by someone with far less experience."

But what type of infinitive is that from a grammatical standpoint? I have yet to go through my books in search of a classification. My best guess is that it is a subject complement, rather like "single" is in "Die single" (cf. "He died single"). I would rest content with that analysis, but I can't recall ever having seen an infinitive analyzed as a subject complement after a verb of full predication. Do you think it is possible to parse this type of infinitive as a subject complement?

If you live not to be remembered and die single, your image will die with you.
If you live only to be forgotten and die single, your image will die with you.

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

That parsing doesn't sit well with me from a semantic standpoint. I don't think Shakespeare had in mind someone striving to live so as not to be remembered.

Well, not exactly someone deliberately 'striving' not to be remembered, as if that's the goal, but someone who consciously decides not to have kids. I think for Shakespeare, not being remembered and being childless are equivalent. If you're consciously opting not to have children, you're therefore consciously opting not to be remembered by them.

In this final couplet, he's just saying what will happen if you do choose to remain childless.

 

[emsr2d2]

For the sake of our learners, who might be as perplexed by some of the language in this thread as by the Shakespeare quote itself, I take this to mean "If you're not bothered about being remembered after you die, stay single and don't have any kids (so there won't be anyone who resembles you facially)".