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Notes
and Plot Summary by Michael J. Cummings © 2003
Background
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Setting:
The time is immediately before the establishment of the Roman republic
in 509 B.C. The places are Ardea, 24 miles south of Rome; Collatium, 10
miles east of Rome; and Rome.
Date
of Publication: On May 9, 1594, the poem was entered in the Hall
Book of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, the English government's
pre-publication registry. The poem was highly popular with educated readers.
Alternate
Titles: The poem was listed in the Hall Book under the title
of The Ravyshement [Ravishment] of Lucrece but was published with
the title Lucrece. The Rape of Lucrece was substituted as
a title at a later date.
Probable
Main Sources
(1)
The
History of Rome, by Livy (full name, Titus Livius), was one of Shakespeare's
most important sources for The Rape of Lucrece . Livy (59 B.C-17
A.D) wrote about early Rome–from its founding in 753 B.C. to the age of
Caesar Augustus, down to about 9 B.C. Livy's History–told in 142
volumes, of which 35 survive intact and others survive in fragments or
in references to his History in works of other writers–is a masterpiece
and required reading for all historians. However, Livy was a moralist who
wrote history as a reformer. He was also  a
layman who had little experience in the day-to-day workings of government.
When writing, he sometimes accepted undocumented accounts–accounts more
properly categorized as legend than as history. Such is his account of
the rape of a woman named Lucretia (the Lucrece of Shakespeare's poem).
The account is taken as fact by some, fiction by others. Thus, Livy–a rich
source of information about early Rome during the age of kings–was not
always reliable. (2) Fasti (Calendar) by the Roman poet Ovid
(full name, Publius Ovidius Naso) was another important source of information.
Shakespeare may have used an English translation of Fasti by Arthur
Golding, although it is just as likely that he used an original Latin text.
Of course, he may have paged through both texts while writing his poem.
Ovid (43 B.C.-18 A.D.) is famous for his love poems, but Fasti was
a 12-volume account of the Roman calendar that listed special events and
festivals on a given day. "Book II" of Fasti tells the story of
the rape of Lucretia, or Lucrece, because of its importance as a significant
turning point in Roman history. Used as evidence of the corruption of the
reigning King of Rome (his son was the rapist), the incident led to the
overthrow of the king and the establishment of the Roman republic.
Type
of Poem, Rhyme Scheme, and Meter
Type
of Poem and Length: Narrative poem resembling a revenge tragedy; 1,855
lines
Rhyme
Scheme and Meter: The poem is in rhyme royal (or rime royal) with each
stanza having seven lines in iambic pentameter.
The rhyme scheme is ababbcc–that is, Line 1 rhymes with Line 3, Line 2
rhymes with Lines 4 and 5, and Line 6 rhymes with Line 7. Geoffrey Chaucer,
author of the Canterbury Tales, pioneered this rhyme scheme in England
in his works Troilus and Criseyde and The Parlement of Foules.
Rhyme royal was going out of fashion when Shakespeare wrote Lucrece,
although later poets–including John Milton in the 17th Century and John
Masefield in the 20th–revived it. Stanza 8 of the poem aptly displays rhyme
royal and iambic pentameter:
.
..............A...From
the besieged Ardea all in post,
..............B...Borne
by the trustless wings of false desire,
..............A...Lust-breathed
Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
..............B...And
to Collatium bears the lightless fire
..............B...Which,
in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
..............C...And
girdle with embracing flames the waist
..............C...Of
Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste.
Imagery
The
language and imagery in the poem are elegant and accomplished, demonstrating
great technical skill. Shakespeare was attempting to establish his reputation
when he wrote the poem. If there is a weakness, it is that Lucrece sometimes
resembles an automaton expressing emotions rather than feeling them.
Dedication
Shakespeare
dedicated The Rape of Lucrece to Henry Wriothesley, the Third Earl
of Southampton. Wriothesley (1573-1624) was a patron of Shakespeare and
other writers of the time. Although a favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth
I, his association with the headstrong Robert Devereux, the Second Earl
of Essex–another fixture at court–led him to take part in Devereux’s 1601
rebellion against the queen. Wriothesley was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Complete
Text: Bartleby.com:
The 1914 Oxford Text With Numbered Lines
.....
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a Guide to the Complete Works...........................................
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Summary of the Poem
Including
Implied Historical Background and Key Passages
By
Michael J. Cummings...©
2003
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.......In
the mid-Sixth Century, B.C., Lucius Tarquinius murders his father-in-law
to become King of Rome. He is an arrogant, despotic ruler, fully deserving
his epithet, Tarquin the Proud, or Tarquinius Superbus. Because
he covets the town of Ardea, 24 miles south of Rome, he orders troops there
to lay siege.
.......While
encamped at Ardea, officers gather after supper at the tent of the king’s
son, Tarquin, to socialize and tell stories. By and by, they begin extolling
the virtues of their wives. One officer, Collatine, boasts that his wife,
Lucrece, is by far the most beautiful and virtuous woman of all. His accounting
of her excellent qualities arouses lust in the heart of young Tarquin;
he must see this wonder for himself. So it is that he steals away to Collatine's
home in Collatium, 10 miles east of Rome, where Lucrece manages the household
in the absence of her husband.
.......When
he presents himself at her door as a comrade of her husband, she receives
him hospitably. Her beauty and innocent charm astound him. Collatine’s
praise of her, generous as it was, was not generous enough. He resolves
to have her. Lucrece believes him honorable and upright, a fine and noble
gentleman
like her husband; she is trusting to a fault. The narrator draws back the
curtain of her mind:
..............This
earthly saint, adored by this devil,
..............Little
suspecteth the false worshipper;
..............For
unstain'd thoughts do seldom dream on evil. (85-87)
The
clever Tarquin ingratiates himself with guileless Lucrece, praising her
husband’s soldierly valor and “manly chivalry” (109).He also invents excuses
for his visit, deciding to restrain his libido until nightfall. After supper,
they while away the evening in conversation. When they retire to separate
chambers, the omniscient narrator interprets Tarquin’s motives and, in
doing so, preaches a lesson:
..............Those
that much covet are with gain so fond,
..............For
what they have not, that which they possess
..............They
scatter and unloose it from their bond,
..............And
so, by hoping more, they have but less;
..............Or,
gaining more, the profit of excess
..............Is
but to surfeit, and such griefs sustain,
..............That
they prove bankrupt in this poor-rich gain. (134-140)
.......When
deepest night silences all living things, save for the howling wolf and
the screeching owl, Tarquin steals forth to plunder his treasure. He lifts
a latch. He knees open the door. Before him, Lucrece lies fast asleep.
“Into the chamber wickedly he stalks, / And gazeth on her yet unstained
bed" (365-366). Under his groping hands, Lucrece awakens and "Wrapp'd and
confounded in a thousand fears, / Like to a new-kill'd bird she trembling
lies" (456-457). She must submit to him willingly, he tells her, or he
will take her by force. 'Lucrece,' quoth he,'this night I must enjoy thee:
/ If thou deny, then force must work my way" (512-513). Lucrece begs him,
by all that is right and good, to leave her alone.
..............She
conjures him by high almighty Jove,
..............By
knighthood, gentry, and sweet friendship's oath,
..............By
her untimely tears, her husband's love,
..............By
holy human law, and common troth,
..............By
heaven and earth, and all the power of both,
..............That
to his borrow'd bed he make retire,
..............And
stoop to honour, not to foul desire. (568-574)
.......Tarquin
deafens his ears to her pleadings–and takes her. “The wolf hath seized
his prey, the poor lamb cries” (677). Then he leaves her, a wretched, heartbroken
woman, polluted to the deepest fathom of her soul. “She hath lost a dearer
thing than life” (687). With her nails, she tears her flesh. She says:
.............."O
Night, thou furnace of foul-reeking smoke,
..............Let
not the jealous Day behold that face
..............Which
underneath thy black all-hiding cloak
..............Immodestly
lies martyr'd with disgrace!" (792-802)
In
handwritten messages, she summons Collatine from Ardea and her father,
Lucretius, from Rome. While awaiting their arrival, she reflects on a painting
of the Trojan War and recalls the suffering that resulted in Troy from
the event that caused it: the abduction of the beautiful Helen, wife of
King Menelaus of Greece, by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy.
.............."Here
friend by friend in bloody channel lies,
..............And
friend to friend gives unadvised wounds,
..............And
one man's lust these many lives confounds:
..............Had
doting Priam cheque'd his son's desire,
..............Troy
had been bright with fame and not with fire." (1487-1491)
Lucrece
compares Tarquin with Paris, and herself with Priam.
.............."To
me came Tarquin armed; so beguiled
..............With
outward honesty, but yet defiled
..............With
inward vice: as Priam him did cherish,
..............So
did I Tarquin; so my Troy did perish." (1544-1547)
.......After
her husband and her father arrive with friends, Lucrece–now dressed
in mournful black–tells them the shocking news, that she has been raped.
"Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak, / And far the weaker with so
strong a fear" (1646-1647). Then, before naming the rapist, she asks them
to avenge the terrible crime:
..............“But
ere I name him, you fair lords,” quoth she,
..............Speaking
to those that came with Collatine,
..............“Shall
plight your honourable faiths to me,
..............With
swift pursuit to venge this wrong of mine;
..............For
'tis a meritorious fair design
..............To
chase injustice with revengeful arms:
..............Knights,
by their oaths, should right poor ladies' harms.” (1688-1694)
But when she names Tarquin,
she plunges a knife into her own breast. Astonishment paralyzes Collatine.
But her father throws himself in grief upon her, and Brutus withdraws the
knife, releasing small rivers of blood. Brokenhearted Lucretius cries out
to her, “That life was mine which thou hast here deprived” (1752). Collatine
falls on his wife and in her blood “bathes the pale fear in his face” (1775)
until “manly shame bids him possess his breath and live to be revenged
on her death.” Brutus holds out the bloody weapon, saying, “By this bloody
knife we will revenge the death of this true wife” (1840-41). His compatriots
fall to their knees and swear they will.
.......They
then bear the body of Lucrece through the streets of Rome and inform the
people of Tarquin’s “foul offence” (1852). At the same time, they denounce
the tyrannical rule of Lucius Tarquinius. The entire Tarquin family is
rooted out, deposed, and banished. And Rome, in 509 B.C., establishes a
republic ruled by representatives of the people. There will be no more
Tarquins, no more kings.
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