Venus and Adonis Essays

Venus and Adonis Essays Venus and Adonis Essay Venus and Adonis Essay she prevents him from using his hunter instincts thus prevents him from being masculine. I see the hunt as having sexual connotations as he has a desire to sexually pursue his quarry. However he is punished for this with death. Is this because Shakespeare is making an allusion to the Earl of Southampton? If Adonis had pursued Venus then Alls well that ends well?Shakespeare draws the plot and characters from a combination of Ovids Book Ten and Book Four. It is important to note that Ovids Book Ten has heavy undercurrents of homoeroticisms and so Adonis is set up as an object of desire for the implied male reader. I believe using this understanding that the poem should be read as slightly ironic.If Adonis lets women lust after him rather than being the hunter of women, then ultimately he suffers the punishement of death. Bearing in mind homosexuality was illegal in Shakespearen England, is Shakespreare trying to warn the Earl o f Southampton? As Adonis is slain by a boar it could be argued that the tusks being a phallic symbol means he is slain for lusting after the wrong object. So in the historical context, the Earl will be punished for lusting after the male gender, he should be concentrating on getting himself a wife.