Essay
Close Reading of Rape of Lucrece
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Essay of 8 pages for the course Renaissance Literature at Royal Holloway University of London (London)
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Themes in Rape of Lucrece
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4 Flashcards
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Some examples from this set of practice questions
1.
Significance of Colours in Rape of Lucrece
Answer: • The commencing stanzas make references to the red and white colour (Coat of arms) as well as this, regal, majestic colours such as silver and golden are referenced. • Connotations of Lucrece include: radiance, treasure, priceless wealth, fortune, rich jewel • In this passage fairness and darkness is used- the colour black and mud to refer to the impure act of Tarquin.
2.
War in Rape of Lucrece:
Answer: • Warfare/Battle Imagery as well as lexical field employed- aim/shoot. • Lucrece’s body is a dominion for him to attack (reminiscent of John Donne’s ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’) Contextual information- Americas/Spanish Armada/Invasion/Expansion of colonies/Ottoman Empire- Europe was involved in conquering kingdoms and oceans explaining the imagery and semantic field. • Violent lexical field: wounding, mud, shoot, beat • Phallic sword is mentioned—violent nature, but also the item which Lucrece pierces into her breast.
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EN2010: RENAISSANCE LITERATURE : Love, Honour, Obey 1525-1670
From Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece.
The Rape of Lucrece presents how a chaste woman is defiled by her husband’s
flagellation of her, and how eventually she is deflowered to dishonour; falls prey
to nature, and brings a culmination to her own life. Tarquin is a corrupt royal
figure who mistreats the victimised female other. Tarquin’s royal corruption is the
main theme that proliferates in this section. As is suggested, monarchy disallows
the hiding of misdeeds; princes should be ‘glass, the school, the book’ (615. 1)
The metonymical synecdoche reveals that Tarquin should have pure
transparency, and set an example to society as a means of guiding, and
possessing knowledge. However the three entities are broken by his
transgression of sexual penetration. Shame is revealed as an equal transaction;
as Lucrece loses her chastity, so does Tarquin wound his princely name. Tarquin’s
access to Lucrece’s body is a loss of the self; likewise Lucrece’s penetration of
her body with the sword is a loss of life. Tarquin places the violation on himself
and his victim. The betrayal of obligation in Tarquin’s un-kingly conduct works
disparagingly, dramatising the enormity of betrayal precisely invoked by the
powerful and traditional belief in the duty of monarch.
Royalty is represented through the use of colour. The commencing stanzas
in the poem associate Lucrece with the coat of arms through the recurring motif
of her red and white complexion, proleptically she is connected to militarism and
empire, she is the land in which Tarquin is to conquer. She is the blank white
colour in which Tarquin is to colour, stain and eventually blacken with mud.
1 Stephen Greenblatt. “Norton Shakespeare” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2008) All
subsequent parentheses are to this edition only.
, The many connotations of Lucrece incite Tarquin. Shakespeare casts
Lucrece in relation to material objects which alienate her from the events that
shape her aesthetics. The ‘priceless wealth’ (17) is a ‘rich jewel.’ (34) She is the
‘fortune’ (19) and ‘treasure’ (16) that Tarquin desires to rob and possess and
stain with his own name. The binary oppositions are shown in the contrasting fair
and dark imagery. Lucrece’s fair complexion and purity is corrupted by the
impure act of Tarquin.
Warfare imagery is predominant. A combative lexical field is employed to
reveal that Lucrece’s body is a dominion that Tarquin ‘aim[s]’ (579) and ‘shoot[s]’
(579) and ultimately attacks. John Donne’s ‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’
similarly illustrates the passive female body as the ‘new found land’, the
‘America’, the ‘beauteous state’, ‘kingdom’, and ‘empery.’ The topological duality
of body as land features throughout the Rape of Lucrece, when Tarquin describes
Lucrece’s breasts as ‘ivory globes.’ For Tarquin, the whole universe hyperbolically
resides in Lucrece’s body; her body is a microcosm for his worldly pleasures. The
geographical imagery is dominant as a feature resulting from the Habsburg–
Valois Wars. The female body is a ‘city’ for the male to ‘besiege.’ 2 Towards the
end of the poem, Lucrece connects with the image on the tapestry through the
use of ekphrasis, claiming to be attacked by her assailant and besieged like the
city of Rome as Tarquin finally ‘command[s] in his monarchy.’ 3Lucrece tears the
image with her nails and is only able to wound a still representation of Tarquin;
she has no power to wound the static reality due to her female otherness and her
passivity to royalty. The actions of Tarquin as a rapist equates with the sacking of
a city. The military semantic field is shown in Shakespeare’s verb choice. Just as
2 Shakespeare William. “A Lover’s Complaint”, Line 177
3 Shakespeare William. “A Lover’s Complaint”, Line 196
, the British Empire was seizing land, inscribing their name on it and retaining
pride in its military prowess, so does Tarquin ‘wound’ (599), ‘mud’ (577) , ‘shoot’
(579) and ultimately ‘beat[s]’ (590) Lucrece to accomplish success in claiming
what is not his. The symbol of the sword appears. The sword is vital as it
connects to the inflicting painful verbs that have outpoured, it is the phallic prop
which marginalises and destroys Lucrece’s virtue, and the instrument which
Lucrece finally uses to pierce into her breast as a means of cathartic purgation.
Shakespeare equates Lucrece with nature. Her ‘sighs’ (586) are
‘whirlwinds’ (586.) They oppose Tarquin’s artificial, manmade, masculine royalty.
Her ‘moans’ (587), ‘groans’ (588), and ‘tears’ (588) reflect the efflux of rain and
the characteristics of the cult of sensibility. Her responses could also be viewed
erotically (relating to the characteristics associated with the cult of sensibility)
although Lucrece emphasises that ‘tears harden lust’ (560), her tears could be
signified as lustrous, her sighs signify her heaving and panting, which in turn
provokes Tarquin to possess her, hardening his intent. The weakness of the
female is seen as attractive in the male gaze. Her torment is portrayed through
the plethora of O’s which reverberate throughout the poem. They are
meaningless ciphers, whereby Tarquin injects meaning into them through his
misdemeanour. The ciphers are once again linked to natural imagery through the
God of wind, Zephyrus. The succession of O’s are the sound and motion of breath
as well as the form and shape of the eyes—it is the economy of the gaze which
constructs Lucrece as a ‘virtuous monument’ (391). The eyes are the primary
tool for observance which is what spurred Tarquin’s desire. Collatine’s regal
encomium aroused aphrodisia in Tarquin’s ‘lust-breathing’ (3) heart. This boast
incites Tarquin to view Lucrece, and after seizing Lucrece with his ‘still-gazing
eyes’ (84) and reaching the stage of observance, Tarquin desires to gain access
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