The Rape of Lucrece

This long poem is written in rhyme royal: stanzas that have seven lines each, written in iambic pentameter, and which follow a rhyme scheme of ABABBCC. “The Rape of Lucrece” is a retelling of the Roman tale about Tarquinius and Lucretia that was well-known in Shakespeare’s time. To refresh the reader’s memory, or to inform those unfamiliar with the tale, Shakespeare includes a prose section before the poem that summarizes the plot.

“The Argument”

Shakespeare’s plot summary is one prose paragraph before 1855 lines of poetry. It starts with Lucius Tarquinius becoming king of Rome and setting up a military encampment in Ardea. There, in the tent of Sextus Tarquinius (aka Tarquin, son of the king), Collatinus (aka Collantine) brags about the fidelity of his wife, Lucretia (aka Lucrece). The men sneak back home to surprise their wives, and only Lucrece is at home taking care of domestic duties while the other wives are out dancing or partying.

Then, Tarquinius intrudes upon Lucrece’s hospitality, lodging at her house instead of going back to Ardea with the other men. After she has gone to bed, he rapes her and leaves early in the morning. Lucrece sends for her father and husband, and they arrive with Junius Brutus. She makes them vow revenge on Tarquin and kills herself. They parade her dead body through Rome, gaining support to overthrow the monarchy and become a republic.

Shakespeare’s inclusion of the prose “Argument” allows him to focus on a few key moments of this tale—specifically Tarquin’s internal debate before approaching Lucrece’s bedroom, the debate between Tarquin and Lucrece, and Lucrece’s traumatic thought process behind suicide—in the poem. Lucrece’s psychological meanderings are allotted the most lines.

Stanzas 1-18 (Lines 1-126)

This first section of stanzas includes the action before Lucrece goes to bed. The poem begins in medias res as Tarquin rides to the home of Collantine and Lucrece. He thinks about the previous night when Collantine praised Lucrece. In initial descriptions of her beauty, the motifs of celestial objects, eyes, and red/white pairings begin. The imagery associated with Tarquin is fiery.

When Lucrece welcomes Tarquin, the red and white motif describing her beauty continues. The connection between lust and eyes develops alongside a comparison of Lucrece to an innocent bird. In contrast, Tarquin is described as a “devil” (Line 85). He commends Collantine’s “manly chivalry” (Line 109) while they have dinner and talk late into the night, evoking the anachronistic Arthurian literary tradition. Tarquin and Lucrece retire to separate bedrooms.

Stanzas 19-43 (Lines 127-301)

In this section, Tarquin is alone in his room, debating whether or not to commit sexual violence. As he tosses and turns in bed, the narrator highlights the dueling forces of honor and lust. Wealth and treasure are associated with female beauty and desire. Death is also evoked, beginning a long motif about reputation. There is a stanza of celestial and natural imagery that indicates a shift in time and, deep in the night, Tarquin gets out of bed.

Feeling “bewitched” (Line 73), Tarquin grabs his sword and a torch, and begins to soliloquize (speak alone) to the torch. He feels ashamed to consider breaking codes of “knighthood” (Line 197), contrasting battle with sex, a common trope in medieval Arthurian romance. Tarquin discusses reputation at length, specifically how his act will affect his family after his death.

Then, Tarquin considers his friendship with Collantine. Their comradery, Collantine being a “dear friend” (Line 237), offers no excuses for Tarquin’s intended violence. This is also reminiscent of Lancelot’s betrayal of Arthur with Guinevere. Tarquin recalls Lucrece’s red and white beauty, using an allusion to the myth of Narcissus to elevate her beauty even further.

Tarquin discusses how the eye—the power of sight—has control over his heart, and the narrator intervenes as he stops talking to continue this thread. Military metaphors are used to describe Tarquin deciding to enact violence and leave his bedroom to “marcheth” (Line 301) to hers.

Stanzas 44-64 (Lines 302-448)

This section covers Tarquin’s journey to Lucrece’s room and watching her while she sleeps before waking her with a non-consensual touch. Tarquin passes through doors, the wind blows on his face, and other evil omens—like getting pricked by a needle when he picks up Lucrece’s sewing glove—are noted by the narrator, but do not stop Tarquin. His fiery imagery continues as he approaches Lucrece’s door.

Outside her bedroom, he prays, but he realizes the irony in this so asks to be guided by “love” rather than god (Line 351). When he enters her room, the narrator compares him to a snake, emphasizing the opposition to god. Celestial imagery and red/white imagery fill the narrator’s descriptions of Tarquin watching Lucrece sleep. The narrator describes sleep as a kind of death, foreshadowing Lucrece’s corpse at the end of the poem. A catalog of her visible features, called a “blazon” in medieval and renaissance poetry, is included.

Hunting and military metaphors describe Tarquin as he approaches Lucrece. The connection between heart and eye returns as his hand reaches her breast. Her eyes now also enter the scene as she wakes, temporarily blinded by Tarquin’s “flaming torch” (Line 448).

Stanzas 65-95 (Lines 449-665)

This section encompasses the debate between Tarquin and Lucrece. Lucrece, frightened, must endure Tarquin’s military language; she is a “sweet city” to be “breach[ed]” (469). When she asks why he has chosen this violent act, he claims it is the fault of her beauty, described with white and red imagery: a lily and rose used in a garden metaphor.

When he threatens her with a sword, the narrator uses a bird comparison: falcon and fowl (predator and prey). Tarquin says he will spare her life if she keeps the assault a secret. He appeals to her concern for her husband and family’s reputation. The narrator returns to the hunting metaphor, using several pairs of animals, like the doe and griffin, to describe the moment.

When Lucrece replies, the narrator paraphrases her initial appeals. She invokes god (Jove), “knighthood” (Line 569), the bond between Tarquin and her husband, the law, and the universe to try to persuade him to ignore his adulterous desire. A long direct quote develops these appeals: She plays off the hunting metaphor to argue against unseasonable hunting, asks for compassion using an ocean simile, and discusses reputation in conjunction with his princely title and immortal name.

Lucrece also suggests Tarquin is not this lust-driven creature he currently appears to be and can come back to his usual self. He replies, extending the earlier ocean metaphor, which she transforms into a puddle, saying that he is bigger than his violent desires and thus can control them.

Stanzas 96-115 (Lines 666-805)

Tarquin interrupts Lucrece’s pleas and says he will force himself on her. The narrator describes him putting out the torch and returns to the hunting metaphor. Lucrece cries in the clearly non-consensual act of losing her “chastity” (Line 692), which is not the same as virginity.

Afterwards, Tarquin feels disgrace and shame. When he asks Lucrece how she feels, she replies with a conquered city metaphor and experiences trauma, or “living death” (Line 726). The narrator alternates between descriptions of Tarquin sneaking out and Lucrece’s tormented emotions in every other line for a few stanzas, using animal similes and physical descriptions.

Then Lucrece hopes that day will never come and curses night. Her “apostrophe” (act of talking to an abstract concept) includes a catalogue of names for night. She encourages night to fight against day coming, and longs for nocturnal celestial companions in her pain, but feels alone.

Stanzas 116-146 (Lines 806-1022)

Lucrece discusses reputation at length, and curses opportunity, time, and Tarquin. She equates the day with the story of Tarquin’s rape coming to light, and damaging her husband’s honor. In her discussion of honor, Lucrece uses animal imagery, continuing the predator and prey motif. She also continues the motif of wealth when cursing Tarquin.

Lucrece then begins cursing the abstract concept of opportunity. It favors predators and sinners; like night, she spouts a catalogue of names for opportunity, such as “notorious bawd” (Line 886), “traitor,” and “ravisher” (Line 888). She questions why opportunity does not help those in need, cursing power structures that cause the weak to die or suffer. Also, Lucrece lists the crimes opportunity is guilty of, including “murder” (Line 918) and “incest” (Line 921), settling on “all sins” (923).

Next, her rant turns to time. Time is an associate of night and opportunity and, like opportunity, Lucrece discusses its potential to right wrongs, flip fortunes, and level power structures. She asks time to reverse, so it can erase the rape. Then, she implores time to harm Tarquin, listing a variety of methods for this, including “Let him have time of time’s help to despair” (Line 983); “Have time to wail th’abusing of his time” (Line 994); become “mad” (Line 997); and commit suicide. Lucrece returns to celestial and animal imagery, ending this section by cursing “idle words” (1016) themselves.

Stanzas 147-173 (Lines 1023-1211)

This section is Lucrece’s debate on suicide. After feeling her previous “smoke of words” (Line 1027) is in vain, she believes action, specifically killing herself, is the correct path. She looks for a weapon, does not find one nearby, and compares being threatened with death by Tarquin and taking her own life. Lucrece wants to protect her husband, and his familial line, from a bastard son; she believes she is pregnant.

The narrator returns with an allusion to the myth of Philomela—a rape victim who was turned into a bird—to announce that the sun is rising. Lucrece rages against the day and anything she sees. When the birds begin to sing, Lucrece’s pain increases at the sound of their mirth. She invokes Philomela, asking her to sing, and uses a musical metaphor for suicide: “tune our heart-strings to true languishment” (Line 1141).

Once again, the narrator intervenes, describing her debate over suicide with a deer simile. Lucrece soliloquizes about the connection between her body and soul using several metaphors, including a tree, a house, and a temple. She declares that she will not kill herself until she has revealed Tarquin’s rape to Collantine. The act of suicide, to Lucrece, will illustrate to her husband how to enact revenge on Tarquin: with mortal violence: “How Tarquin must be used, read in me” (Line 1195). Furthermore, she believes that suicide is an honorable act in her situation: “My blood shall wash the slander of mine ill” (1207) because it will keep away illegitimate and unwanted children.

Stanzas 174-195 (Lines 1212-1365)

Lucrece sets her revenge-suicide plan in motion with the help of her maid and messenger. Lucrece calls her maid into her room, and her maid sees her teary eyes, which are described using celestial imagery. The women cry together, and the narrator compares women to moldable wax and men to marble in terms of expressing emotions. Because of this impressionable nature, and the structure of power—expressed with natural imagery—the narrator asserts women are not to blame for men’s violence: “let it not be held / Poor women’s faults that they are so full-filled / With men’s abuses” (Lines 1257-1259).

Lucrece asks her maid why she is crying and when Tarquin left the house. The maid replies that he left before she woke, and asks about Lucrece’s tears. Lucrece does not want to repeat her traumatic tale, so she asks for pen and paper, immediately realizing that they are already nearby. Then, she asks her maid to fetch the messenger.

When alone again, Lucrece writes a letter to Collantine. The contents of the short missive are included (an intertextual epistolary act or, in other words, a letter-within-poem). It is brief, informing Lucrece’s husband of her “grief” (Line 1313), without any specific details, and asks him to come home. The motif of the eye returns to underscore her point that her husband seeing her suicide—an action rather than words on the page—will ensure he enacts her revenge.

The messenger appears and takes her letter; they both blush. Lucrece feels like the “sour-faced groom” (Line 1334) can see her “shame” (1344). However, he is only there for a moment before he leaves with the letter. Lucrece is not sure how to pass the time until Collantine returns, being weary of crying.

Stanzas 196-226 (Lines 1366-1582)

This section focuses on Lucrece’s engagement with a painting of Troy that hangs in her house; this long poetic description of visual art is called ekphrasis. The ekphrasis compares the way Helen’s rape incited the Trojan War to how the rape of Lucrece led to Rome becoming a republic.

Alongside the philosophical discussion of nature versus art, there’s a description of the painting’s scenery: there are nameless laborers and great commanders, as well as famous characters, such as Ajax, Ulysses, and Nestor. The inclusion of Achilles in this catalogue of characters references the ekphrastic section of the Iliad about his shield. Additionally, Hector, Priam, and Pyrrhus are discussed, and then Lucrece settles on Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, for a few stanzas. Hecuba shows “life imprisoned in a body dead” (Line 1456) and inspires Lucrece to sing Hecuba’s “woes with my lamenting tongue” (Line 1465). The tongue references Lavinia in Titus Andronicus, a Roman play by Shakespeare, because the painter gave Hecuba “so much grief, and not a tongue” (Line 1463). Hecuba also appears in Hamlet as someone whom an actor laments over, spawning Hamlet’s meditation on the nature of acting. In Lucrece’s case, the debate about representing a mythical character focuses on painting instead of acting.

Also, Lucrece rages against Helen, wanting to “tear” her “beauty” with her “nails” (Line 1472). Lucrece discusses private and public spheres intertwining and cries. The narrator emphasizes Lucrece’s eyes as she looks at the painting, and she next focuses on Sinon: the Greek who tricked the Trojans into accepting the wooden horse gift. The description of Sinon includes more celestial imagery.

Lucrece compares Sinon and Tarquin, musing on the relationship between outward appearance and “inward vice” (Line 1545). Faces and “fair forms” (Line 1530) contrast with ”a wicked mind” (Line 1540). Lucrece moves from soliloquizing about Sinon’s false “tears” (Line 1560) to tearing the painting of him “with her nails” (Line 1564). The motif of time returns here, to remind the reader that Lucrece is waiting for the return of her husband and father.

Stanzas 227-247 (Lines 1583-1729)

Collantine and Lucrece’s father—and their men, including Brutus—return to Collatium, Lucrece makes them swear revenge, and she commits suicide in front of them. At the beginning of this section, the messenger briefly returns, completing his task of bringing everyone to Lucrece.

When Collantine sees Lucrece, the narrator continues the eye motif. Collantine is initially speechless at her condition, but eventually asks what happened. The first part of her confession is merely that a man raped her at swordpoint. She contrasts the defilement of her body, her “gross blood” (Line 1655), with her “immaculate and spotless” mind (Line 1656). Collantine is (again) speechless with grief.

Before naming her rapist, Lucrece makes the men swear revenge on him. They, “bound in knighthood” (Line 1697), swear, and she asks how she can be purified of the sin of adultery. They assure her that her mind is sinless and can absolve her body, but she disagrees. Lucrece finally reveals Tarquin’s name and kills herself with a knife.

Stanzas 248-265 (Lines 1730-1855)

This final section covers the aftermath of Lucrece’s revelation and suicide. Collantine remains frozen in shock, Lucrece’s father (Lucretius) throws himself on her body, and Brutus recovers the knife. Her blood is red and black, a change from the red and white imagery that was associated with her beauty earlier in the poem, representing the sexual assault’s corruption of her body.

Lucrece’s father laments her death. He brings up thoughts about parenthood and lineage, then uses mirror imagery that recalls Shakespeare’s sonnets about how children mirror their parents in physical characteristics. Lucretius ends his rant by cursing time, recalling how Lucrece cursed time.

Collantine comes to and throws himself on Lucrece’s body as well. He struggles to speak, mumbling Tarquin’s name, and cries with Lucretius. They argue over who “should weep most” (Line 1792): the one who lost a daughter or the one who lost a wife.

The narrator turns to Brutus at the end of the poem. First, there is an explanation that he had been pretending to be a fool—using “sportive words and utt’ring foolish things” (Line 1813)—but seeing the men cry caused him to drop the act. He believes Lucrece should have killed Tarquin, not herself, but Collantine must now pray to the gods and avenge her death. Together, the Roman men make a vow “which Brutus made before” (1847). This vaguely references Brutus’s famous oath to never allow a king to rule Rome.

The final stanza focuses on the immediate political aftermath. Lucrece’s body is paraded through Rome, gaining the people’s support in banishing Tarquin for his rape.