Shakespeare Venus and Adonis

Venus And Adonis 

William Shakespeare (1592–1593)

Venus and Adonis is an epic poem inspired by a section of Metamophoses written by the Roman poet Ovid.The poem's stanzas are written in iambic pentameter and the rhyme scheme is ababcc. It focuses on the realtionship between the mature, forceful Venus and her lover the youthful Adonis. Venus, as the goddess of love, embodies all the themes of strong sexual desire and seduction. In many ways it makes her an incredibly strong female character as seen throughout the ages where women of most periods of literature appear supressed and submissive to the man. Wheras in this poem, her sensual nature allows her to hold a sort of power over men - her confidence echoes throughout the poem as her "desire doth lend her foce// Courageously to pluck him from his horse".

The theme of hunting is also prominent throughout the poem. On the one hand, this represents the masculine power and the thrill of the chase which is in reflected in Venus' description as an eagle

"Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,

Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh and bone,
Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,
Till either gorge be stuff'd or prey be gone;
Even so she kissed his brow, his cheek, his chin,

And where she ends she doth anew begin."

However, this is not the only context in which hunting appears in the poem. It also seems to be a distraction for Adonis who prefers hunting a real boar over the pursuit of Venus. Shakespeare perhaps pokes fun here at the simplistic may in which men, particularly in youth, want to appear masculine above any airy-fairy love that seems to have been imposed on Adonis here by venus.

"'I know not love,' quoth he, 'nor will not know it,

Unless it be a boar, and then I chase it;"

This poem presents Venus as a sort of "cougar" charcter and that Adonis is too immature to live up to her affections and instead is embarrassed about her candid sexual nature.

Look, how a bird lies tangled in a net,
So fasten'd in her arms Adonis lies;
Pure shame and awed resistance made him fret,
Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes:

Although Venus is presented as keeping Adonis captive, the weak "bird" "tangled in a net",  we don't hate her as we would a dominating male perhaps. "So fasten'd in her arms Adonis lies", she is so overcome with desire that it becomes her selfish power leaving Adonis feeling restricted and trapped. He insists on continuing his hunt, despite Venus' hunch .  Shakespeare also says somehting about women;s intuition, thaat they have some sort of quality, that perhaps refelcts their sensitivity, that makes them more aware of danger than men. 

Tell me, Love's master, shall we meet to-morrow?

Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?'

He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends

To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.

'The boar!' quoth she; whereat a sudden pale,

 ...

But that thou told'st me thou wouldst hunt the boar.
O, be advised! thou know'st not what it is
With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,
Whose tushes never sheathed he whetteth still,Like to a mortal butcher bent to kill. 

It is perhaps with irony then that Adonis meets his fate - severed in the groin by the tusk of the boar. The boar in mythology is often shown to represent courage and bravery, but also animalistic lust "the loving swine". This conflict is embodied in Adonis' destiny - killed by the very thing he himself hunted but also ran away from in the form of Venus' lusty clutches. His groin, his manlihood, is the thing being destroyed. It is clear that the boar only wanted to love Adonis "kidd" "nuzzling" "unaware", just like Venus, is unaware of the damage he is causing Adonis. 

"'Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain:
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear
Who did not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;
And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine
Sheathed unaware the tusk in his soft groin."