Stanza 163 - Explanation

Original Stanza

'And whiles against a thorn thou bear'st thy part,
To keep thy sharp woes waking, wretched I,
To imitate thee well, against my heart
Will fix a sharp knife to affright mine eye;
Who, if it wink, shall thereon fall and die.
These means, as frets upon an instrument,
Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Okay, let's break down stanza 163 from Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece line by line and then analyze the overall meaning and literary devices:

Line-by-Line Breakdown:

• "And whiles against a thorn thou bear'st thy part,"

  • And whiles means "and while" or "meanwhile".
  • Against a thorn thou bear'st thy part refers to Lucrece, figuratively depicted here as suffering in sorrow as a thorn presses against her flesh. Bear'st thy part means to endure or take your share of the suffering.
  • It sets up a contrast between Lucrece's silent, internal suffering and the speaker's (Collatine's) external and dramatic response.

• "To keep thy sharp woes waking, wretched I,"

  • To keep thy sharp woes waking indicates that he doesn't want her pain to be forgotten, it needs to remain current and understood.
  • Wretched I emphasizes the speaker's (Collatine's) self-pity and misery. He sees himself as equally (or perhaps even more) affected by Lucrece's suffering.

• "To imitate thee well, against my heart"

  • To imitate thee well implies a performative aspect to his grief. He feels the need to outwardly express his suffering in a way that mirrors hers. He wants to match her pain.
  • Against my heart introduces a violent image.

• "Will fix a sharp knife to affright mine eye;"

  • Will fix a sharp knife to affright mine eye This is the most striking and disturbing line. He plans to hold a knife pointed at his own heart to scare his eye, and thus, himself. It's a theatrical, almost melodramatic, gesture of self-punishment and grief.

• "Who, if it wink, shall thereon fall and die."

  • Who, if it wink, shall thereon fall and die The "who" refers to his eye. He threatens himself with death if he closes his eye (winces) from the pain or fright of the knife. He's trying to force himself to endure and witness his own suffering.

• "These means, as frets upon an instrument,"

  • These means refers to the drastic actions he plans to take with the knife.
  • As frets upon an instrument introduces a metaphor. Frets are the raised ridges on the neck of a stringed instrument (like a lute or guitar) that help determine the pitch of the notes. The pains of Lucrece and Collentine are tuning the music of their sorrow.

• "Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment."

  • Shall tune our heart-strings to true languishment Continues the musical metaphor. The suffering (the "frets") will "tune" their "heart-strings" (emotions) to a state of perfect, pure, and resonant sadness (true languishment).

Overall Meaning:

This stanza reveals the speaker's (Collatine's) overwhelming grief and guilt in the wake of Lucrece's rape. He is engaging in a form of dramatic self-pity and self-punishment, trying to mirror the suffering he perceives in Lucrece. He almost seems to be competing with her pain, needing to prove the depth of his sorrow and commitment. The threat of the knife is not necessarily a genuine suicide attempt (although the possibility is there), but rather a performative act intended to shock and express the extremity of his emotions. He imagines these extreme measures as being necessary to "tune" their emotional state to a pitch of profound sadness, as if they are instruments playing a duet of grief.

Literary Devices:

• Metaphor: The entire stanza is framed by the central metaphor of tuning heart-strings to languishment, comparing emotional suffering to adjusting the pitch of a musical instrument. This extends to the thorn, which stands in for the emotional pain Lucrece feels.
• Imagery: The stanza is filled with vivid and violent imagery: the thorn, the sharp knife pointed at the heart, the eye winking, death. This creates a powerful and unsettling atmosphere.
• Allusion: While not explicit, the "thorn" could be seen as an allusion to the crown of thorns that Jesus wore, evoking themes of suffering and sacrifice.
• Hyperbole: The threatened self-mutilation and death are arguably hyperbolic, exaggerating his grief to an extreme level. This is especially true if the speaker isn't necessarily intending to go through with the threat.
• Irony: There is a subtle undercurrent of irony. The speaker's focus on his own pain and his performative grief can be seen as overshadowing and potentially minimizing Lucrece's actual trauma. He focuses on mimicking grief, rather than actually comforting Lucrece.
• Juxtaposition/Contrast: The contrast between Lucrece's internalized suffering and the speaker's external, theatrical grief is a key element of the stanza.

In essence, the stanza is a theatrical expression of grief, guilt, and a desperate need to participate in the suffering caused by the rape. It uses powerful imagery and a central metaphor to convey the overwhelming emotional turmoil of the speaker. However, it also reveals a potential self-centeredness and a focus on the performance of grief, rather than genuine empathy and support.