Agency in "The Rape of Lucrece"

MIGUEL A. MONTEZANTI

Stratfird-upon-Avon

Congreso; 35th Shakespeare International Conference; 2012

ISA

This paper is concerned with the scope of the concepts "agent", "agency" in Shakespeare's long poem "The rape of Lucrece". "Agens-tis", from which "agent" derives, is the active participle of the Latin verb "agere", which means to push, to impel or to drive. These English verbs are for my purposes stronger than simply "to act". It is worthwhile mentioning that "exact", "exigent" "actor", "action", but also the frequentative "agitate" and also "excitement", "excogitate" and even "cite" derive from the same root. All these terms may apply to Tarquin's behaviour, even the last one, because he cites maxims or proverbs to justify his crooked aims. Tarquin appears to be the agent of the ravishment of Lucrece. Heather Dubrow (1991) among others has analyzed the range of Tarquin's agency. She chooses the expression "captive victors", taken from the poem, as the title for a significant chapter. The oxymoron reveals the paradoxical nature of these agents, not only Tarquin but also Lucrece. Tarquin's inner struggle before committing his crime shows that he is conscious of his decisions, but at the same time is driven by his excitement: "Thus graceless holds he disputation" (v. 246). A similarity is to be observed between Tarquin and Macbeth. Similarly, Lucrece seems to be responsible for her own ravishment, i.e. suicide; she claims she is "the mistress of my fate" (v. 1069) but at the same time appears as a fatal victim of the outrage. On the other hand Collatine, Lucrece's husband, a strong warrior, is absolutely passive at the sight of Lucrece's bleeding corpse. This paper explores these different agencies in the poem.  The poem was staged in 2010 by an Argentine actress, who performed the narrator's part and also Tarquin's and of Lucrece'ss. The show was very successful. The paper also intends to explain how this adaptation happened to have such a vivid impact on the Argentine audience examining the main features of adaptation, in which intentionality (explicit or implicit) and objects do intervene.