I would rather ... before (I) would allow

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

A few days ago I heard someone say the following on the Internet:

I would rather drown before I would allow this man to save me in the sea.

I have four questions about this sentence/grammar structure.

1. Does "I would rather drown before I would allow this man to save me in the sea" mean "I would rather drown than allow this man to save me in the sea"?
2. Is this structure correct. I am asking because I have seen many forms on the Internet. Should it be "I would rather drown before I would allow this man to save me in the sea" or "I would rather drown before I allow this man to save me in the sea" or "I would rather drown before I allowed this man to save me in the sea"?
3. Is it possible / permissible to use two different persons, for instance, I would rather die before you would throw a tantrum again?
4. Is this structure legal or slang?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

I find "I would rather ... before ..." unnatural.

I would rather drown than allow this man to save me.

If I were going to use "before", I would remove "rather". I would drown before allowing this man to save me.