Tammy’s Reviews > Venus and Adonis / The Rape of Lucrece > Status Update

Lucrece is so angry at Sinon that she rips his picture. While Paris caused the war, Sinon broke the siege. Her husband and companions arrive and she is wearing black. She promises few words and she keeps that promise. Briefly she explains what happen and names her accuser. I wonder if Shakespeare proves that her mind is not stained by having her kill herself. It is a sin but I wonder if the poetry transcends that.

Lucrece calls Helen a slut because her beauty entices Paris’ lust. She did not realize her beauty did the same to Tarquin. She asks why private sin should plague the public, foreshadowing what will happen in Rome. She blames Priam for not checking his son. She looks for Sinon--he is neither red-faced (guilt) nor pale (fear) and he didn’t look evil. Then she remembered the same could be said of Tarquin.

Lucrece seals her letter and gives it to her servant. Although he’s clueless about the reason for her suffering, she believes that he perceives her shame. To pass the time, she studies a painting of The Siege of Troy. She studies the painting to find someone suffering like her and it turns out to be King Priam’s wife, Hecuba. Lucrece, the queen of her home, has been besieged and she connects to Hecuba.

Lucrece’s soul is pure but her body is defiled. She feels like a tree with the bark stripped. She believes that by sacrificing her body her soul will be set free. The maid sees her and can tell something is wrong but she does not know what it could be. They both cry. The narrator says that men are like marbel and women wax. What men do to them leaves an impression. Lucrece write a letter to her husband.

Lucrece speaks. She accuses night in evil in a way that reminds me of Macbeth. She wishes that time will be stretched out so that Tarquin can suffer longer for what he did. Tarquin’s sin is more easily seen by all because of his rank. Nobody will help her so she asks her hand to help her with a knife. She hates all birds but Philomel whose thorn will be like her knife. She wants her husband to know what happened.

After Tarquin leaves, he speaks no more. The narrator uses siege language to describe what has happed. Lucrece speaks. Night should be a time for sleep but that has been violated. She cannot face the day. She gives example of how Nature has fallen as a consequence of Sin. She blames Tarquin Superbus for being too weak to control his son. She blames Opportunity for only favoring evil.

Shakespeare isn’t interested in the crime’s graphic details unlike what we see in modern writing. Before the poem is halfway finished, Tarquin is gone but the consequences remain. The imagery tells me that sin prefers darkness, night, chaos--where it can be hidden--because it is the work of evil. Lucrece cannot mask her grief. She imagines that her story will become legendary and, indeed, it has a fairy tale ring.

Non-verbal pleas fail so she uses words. She reminds him about Jove’s view on hospitality. Then she appeals to his good nature, which fails. Then she lets him save face (who is this disguised as Tarquin). His disordered passions will encourage others to do the same. He can still walk away. He uses a tide metaphor (controlled by the moon linked to madness). He forgets that delicious taste yields sour digestion.

Tarquin blames the victim: it’s your fault because you’re beautiful. There’s more siege language. Publicly, Rome is besieging Ardea; privately, Tarquin is besieging Lucretia. To force her cooperation, he threatens those she loves the most--her life and her honor which would affect her husband and her future children. Unless him, she cares about something other than herself.

Interesting opposites come to mind. Light and dark. Fair and foul. Beauty and beast. Lamb and lion. Tarquin only sees her as a thing. As he prowls down the hall, little obstacles dd not cause him to pause because his will is bent on evil. The military language show that this is siege with the aim of conquest. He will take the spoils and leave destruction behind.