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breast / A harmful knife, that
thence her soul unsheathed. /
That blow did bail it from the deep
unrest / Of that polluted prison
where it breathed” (ll.1723–1726).
Her father and Collatine grieve
over her body and Tarquin and all
his family are banished from Rome.
Publication
Shakespeare seems to have
thought of The Rape of Lucrece as
a tragic companion piece to the
ironically comic Venus and Adonis.
In dedicating the earlier poem to
the Earl of Southampton, he had
promised that, if the Earl liked it,
he would “take advantage of all idle
hours till I have honoured you with
some graver labour.” The Rape of
Lucrece, also dedicated to the earl,
followed a year later, in 1594. Like
the earlier poem, it was printed by
Shakespeare’s fellow Stratfordian
Richard Field. (The title page calls
it simply Lucrece, but the pages are
headed with the longer title.)Dedication
The dedication to this poem is
written in much warmer terms
than that to Venus a nd Adon is:
“The love I dedicate to your
lordship is without end, whereof
this pamphlet without beginning
is but a superfluous moiety. The
warrant I have of your honourable
disposition, not the worth of myuntutored lines, makes it assured
of acceptance. What I have done
is yours; what I have to do is yours,
being part in all I have, devoted
yours. Were my worth greater
my duty would show greater;
meantime, as it is, it is bound
to your lordship, to whom I
wish long life still lengthened
with all happiness. Your lordship’s
in all duty, William Shakespeare.”
Dedications could be mere
formalities, intended to indicateTHE RAPE OF LUCRECE
Italian artist Palma Giovane depicted
the rape of Lucrece in this painting in
about 1570. Many artists would have
portrayed this famous tale in paintings
that Shakespeare would have seen.