A Shakespearean Prologue

Summary

In Shakespeare’s narrative poem, The Rape of Lucrece, written when the theatres were closed, at a time as it might be of quarantine and social distancing, the object of Tarquin’s lust is not a flute-girl from his own household, the injustice of whose obligations would pass unremarked, but the virtuous, patrician wife of an indiscreet fellow soldier boasting in effect that he has something that Tarquin has not: she belongs to another man, she is Collatine’s, his exclusive and beautiful treasure, faithful and therefore unavailable, so the object of envy and a challenge to Tarquin’s vanity. There is perhaps the thought of the enjoyment of taking someone by force, who will chastely protest but will finally yield. There would also be revenge, for an affront to his vanity, yes, but also for a yet to be spoken and only dimly recognised criticism of his way of life that has therefore to be stifled and overwhelmed.