2. What is conveyed by the personification and the simile in the passage where Venus runs through the brush toward the sounds of Adonis's hunting party?

3. What happens to Venus's eyes when she first sees Adonis's dead body?

4. How does Venus contrast the behavior of fish and birds with the behavior of the boar?

5. Why does Venus say that nature should be convicted of treason, and what is Cynthia's plan to thwart what nature has done?

6. How does Venus portray Adonis having sex as a kind of selfless action and his choosing chastity as selfishness?

7. What does Venus tell Adonis about his beauty and the boar?

8. What conclusion does Venus reach about why the boar killed Adonis, and what does this cause her to reflect about her own behavior?

9. After Adonis's death, what does Venus predict about love?

10. What does Venus say about death when she thinks that Adonis has died?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

You are aware that Shakespeare borrowed from Ovid and that Ovid borrowed from Ancient Greek stories in order to tell the tale of Venus and Adonis. But did the Ancient Greeks also borrow from other sources? Do some research into the Sumarian figures of Dumuzi and Inanna, the Babylonian figures of Tammuz and Ishtar, and the Phoenician figures of Adon and Astarte. What elements of the story stay the same, and what elements change over time? What do you suspect causes the changes in the story as it spreads from society to society? What light does this shed on Shakespeare's choices and the society that he was living in? Write an essay in which you take a position about how the gradual changes in this very old story shed light on the cultures that tell the story--including the culture of Elizabethan England. Support your assertions with evidence from Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and your online historical research. Cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Shakespeare, like many Elizabethans, was very interested in the issue of the "natural" versus the "unnatural." How does his use of hunting symbolism in Venus and Adonis explore this issue? Is hunting presented as a natural or unnatural activity? For whom? How do his treatment of Artemis and his use of the stallion as a foil for Adonis support his perspective on who should engage in hunting? Why does Shakespeare omit the role of Cupid in Venus's desire for Adonis? Where are Cupid and his arrows actually mentioned in the poem, and how does Cupid's role as "hunter" figure into the poem's meaning? What does Adonis's manner of death communicate about hunting? Write an essay in which you analyze the messages about natural and unnatural behavior conveyed by the poem's hunting symbolism. Support your analysis with evidence from the poem, citing any quoted material in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

A year after he published Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare published his only other epyllion, The Rape of Lucrece. Does this poem seem as heavily influenced by drama as Venus and Adonis? Read enough of this second epyllion to have a sense of its style. Then, write an essay that compares and contrasts these two mini-epics, focusing your analysis on the extent to which the poems emphasize dialogue and immediate action. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from both poems, and cite any quoted language in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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