Stanza 148 - Explanation

Original Stanza

'Poor hand, why quiver'st thou at this decree?
Honour thyself to rid me of this shame:
For if I die, my honour lives in thee;
But if I live, thou livest in my defame:
Since thou couldst not defend thy loyal dame,
And wast afeard to scratch her wicked foe,
Kill both thyself and her for yielding so.'

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Okay, let's break down Stanza 148 of Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece line by line, identifying literary devices and then piecing together the overall meaning.

Line-by-Line Breakdown:

• "Poor hand, why quiver'st thou at this decree?"

  • Breakdown: Lucrece is addressing her own hand, which is presumably holding the dagger she intends to use to kill herself. She's asking why her hand is trembling at the "decree" – the decision, the command – to kill herself.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Apostrophe: Direct address to an inanimate object (her hand).
    • Personification: Giving the hand the human quality of quivering and having fear.
    • Rhetorical Question: She's not really expecting an answer; it's a way to express her inner turmoil.

• "Honour thyself to rid me of this shame:"

  • Breakdown: She urges her hand to act honorably by freeing her from the overwhelming shame she feels after being raped by Tarquin. The act of suicide is framed as a way to reclaim honor.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Personification: Again, the hand is being given the ability to possess "honour" and to act upon it.
    • Alliteration: The repetition of the "h" sound in "honour" and "thyself" creates emphasis.

• "For if I die, my honour lives in thee;"

  • Breakdown: She argues that if she dies by her own hand, her honor will be preserved in the act of suicide itself. The implication is that her honor will reside in her hand, which performed the act.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Paradox: The idea that death can lead to life (of honor) is paradoxical.
    • Metaphor: Honor is being represented as something tangible that can live or die.

• "But if I live, thou livest in my defame:"

  • Breakdown: Conversely, if she chooses to live after being raped, her hand (and, by extension, she herself) will be perpetually stained by the shame and dishonor of the act. "Defame" means disgrace.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Antithesis: Direct contrast to the previous line. Death = honor; Life = dishonor.
    • Metaphor: Defame is portrayed as a state of being that one "lives in".

• "Since thou couldst not defend thy loyal dame,"

  • Breakdown: This is a stinging indictment of her own weakness. She blames her hand (again, representing herself) for failing to protect her from Tarquin's attack. "Dame" means lady or mistress.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Personification: The hand should have defended her.
    • Metonymy: The hand represents Lucrece herself, as it should have been the instrument of her defense.

• "And wast afeard to scratch her wicked foe,"

  • Breakdown: She accuses her hand of being too afraid to even scratch or harm Tarquin. This emphasizes her sense of helplessness and her self-reproach for not resisting more forcefully.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Alliteration: "wast", "wicked"

• "Kill both thyself and her for yielding so."

  • Breakdown: The final, harsh command. She demands that her hand kill both itself and her (Lucrece) as punishment for succumbing to Tarquin's assault and failing to defend her honor. She views her yielding, whether forced or partially compliant in her own mind, as a fatal flaw.
  • Literary Devices:
    • Hyperbole: The harshness of the command emphasizes the extremity of her feelings.

Overall Meaning of the Stanza:

This stanza is a powerful exploration of Lucrece's internal conflict and her obsession with honor after being raped. She is consumed by shame and believes that her only path to redemption is through suicide. She personifies her hand, blaming it for her perceived failure to resist the assault, and argues that only by ending her life can she preserve her honor. The stanza highlights the patriarchal societal pressures of the time, where a woman's worth was intimately tied to her chastity and where rape was seen as a stain that could only be cleansed by death. It showcases her extreme emotional state, bordering on self-loathing and a desperate need to control her narrative, even through death. She views her body as tainted, and she sees her hand as a symbol of her powerlessness.