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Article: "To find a face where all distress is stell'd": Enargeia, Ekphrasis, and mouning the The Rape Of Lucrece and the Aeneid
- Article from:
- Comparative Literature
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Comparative Literature Spring 2002. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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AS A NUMBER OF RECENT critics have noted, it is Collatine's boastful emblazoning of Lucrece's face that first inspires Tarquin's unlawful desire for her.2 Collatine's description employs the highly conventionalized imagery of her "unmatched red and white" complexion to conjure the symbolic face o
f ideal beauty:
Haply that name of "chaste" unhapp'ly set This bateless edge on his keen appetite, When Collatine unwisely did not let To praise the clear unmatched red and white Which triumph'd in that sky of his delight; Where mortal stars as bright as heaven's beauties, With pure aspects did him peculiar duties. (Shakespeare, The Rape of Luerece 8-14)
This idealized portrait of Lucrece's face ...