『루크리스의 능욕』(The Rape of Lucrece)

The Matter of Honour and A Woman's Body in The Rape of Lucrece

The meaning of honour in The Rape of Lucrece is not a kind of fixed or ideal conception. Honour is the value most Romans try to pursue and possess. But specially, to Tarquin, its meaning is changeable and alternating according to his purposes. Honour and pride is the motif of Tarquin's coming back to Rome from Ardea to have Lucrece after listening to Collatines' publishing. He wants to make sure he is the one who can possess the most valuable thing, Lucrece. When he is about to enter her chamber, he plays the role of a young and brave soldier whose captain is affection. He tries to make his going forward look heroic and honorable. But Shakespeare describes it comic and humorous and deconstructs his dignity and honor which Tarquin intends to exalt desperately. When he forces Lucrece to surrender to his lust, honour is the most credible threat to her. But this time, it is not his honour but hers, her husband's and children's. While Tarquin is convinced that honour can be traded off whenever he needs, honour is not a changeable alternative any longer when he talks about it to her; on the contrary, it should be protected and kept from violence at any cost or risk. After he flies away from Lucrece's chamber, she alone has to take all the responsibility for being dishonorable, despite herself. She has no way to keep herself secret or private or honorable, for she has been always the object of men's gazing. Her exposure to men, first by her husband, next by Tarquin, drives her to be raped, that is, men's stealthy peeping results in totally destroying her honour and chastity. Ironically, more than ever, this is the moment she is most required to be a chaste and sovereign wife. She is aware that there is no breakthrough to get back her honour except killing her body and devoting it to her kinsmen. Her dead body is going to be used to retrieve men's lost honour, not hers. They are planning to carry her dead body through Rome for every Roman people to watch and find out Tarquin's brutality. It is the final exposure of tainted body that Brutus needs to achieve his republican aim. Her very private body of honour is forced to become the public body of politics. Shakespeare seems to neglect to ensure her a private and solid fortress, allowing her to be watched and to be exposed, but he does not let men's manipulated pride and honour showed to the full. The more they pursue their own honour, the more they get vanity. Men's honor is thought prior, but in order to achieve their value, the body of Lucrece works as a mediator. In the process, Lucrece's private body is erased out into the political sphere of public 'publishing'.