🌹 Stanza 186 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

'Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain:
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,
Who did not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;
And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine
Sheath'd unaware the tusk in his soft groin.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "'Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis slain:"

"'Tis true, 'tis true": It is true, it is true. Venus repeats for emphasis, convincing herself of her interpretation.
"thus was Adonis slain": This is how Adonis was killed. She presents her theory as definitive fact.
Meaning: "It is true, it is true; this is how Adonis was killed:"

Line 2: "He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,"

"He ran upon the boar": He charged at the boar, he attacked the creature. Adonis took the aggressive action.
"with his sharp spear": Armed with his pointed hunting weapon. Adonis was the aggressor, approaching with lethal intent.
Meaning: "He charged at the boar with his sharp spear,"

Line 3: "Who did not whet his teeth at him again,"

"Who did not whet his teeth": Who did not sharpen his teeth, who did not prepare for aggressive attack. The boar didn't respond with hostility.
"at him again": Back at him, in response to Adonis's aggression. The boar didn't retaliate in kind.
Meaning: "Who did not sharpen his teeth in response,"

Line 4: "But by a kiss thought to persuade him there;"

"But by a kiss": But instead through a kiss, but rather with affection. The boar chose love over violence.
"thought to persuade him there": Intended to convince him at that spot, tried to win him over with affection rather than fight.
Meaning: "But instead tried to win him over with a kiss;"

Line 5: "And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine"

"And nuzzling in his flank": And rubbing affectionately against his side. "Nuzzling" is tender, animal affection.
"the loving swine": The affectionate pig. Venus calls the boar "loving," transforming him from monster to lover.
Meaning: "And rubbing affectionately against his side, the loving pig"

Line 6: "Sheath'd unaware the tusk in his soft groin."

"Sheath'd unaware": Buried without knowing, inserted without realizing. The boar was unconscious of what he was doing.
"the tusk in his soft groin": The sharp tooth into Adonis's tender groin area. This describes the fatal wound.
Meaning: "Unknowingly buried his tusk in Adonis's soft groin."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Repetition	"'Tis true, 'tis true"	Emphasizes Venus's desperate need to believe her interpretation
Role Reversal	Adonis as aggressor, boar as peaceful	Subverts expected narrative where boar is the villain
Euphemism	"kiss," "persuade," "loving"	Transforms violent death into romantic encounter
Dramatic Irony	Boar's unawareness of causing death	Shows how love can kill without intention
Oxymoron	"loving swine"	Combines contradictory concepts to reframe the boar
Anatomical Specificity	"soft groin"	Makes the death both intimate and vulnerable
Behavioral Contrast	"whet his teeth" vs. "by a kiss"	Opposes violence with affection
Unconscious Action	"Sheath'd unaware"	Presents death as accident of love

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza completes Venus's reinterpretation of Adonis's death, transforming it from a hunting accident into a tragic love story where the boar's affection proves fatal due to his dangerous nature.

The Complete Role Reversal: Venus presents Adonis as the aggressor who "ran upon the boar with his sharp spear," while the boar is peaceful, choosing "a kiss" over violence. This completely inverts the expected narrative of dangerous beast versus innocent youth.

Love as Unintentional Destroyer: The boar becomes "the loving swine" whose affection is accidentally fatal. This reflects Venus's own situation—her love was overwhelming and potentially destructive to Adonis.

The Unconscious Fatal Act: "Sheath'd unaware" suggests the boar had no intention of killing, making the death a tragic accident of love rather than predatory violence. The tusk penetrates "unaware," making physical love literally deadly.

Anatomical Intimacy: The specific reference to the "soft groin" makes the wound both sexually suggestive and vulnerably human. The boar's tusk penetrates the most intimate and vulnerable part of Adonis's body.

Venus's Self-Justification: By making the boar's love fatal, Venus creates a parallel to her own aggressive pursuit of Adonis. Both she and the boar overwhelmed their object of desire with unwanted affection.

The Paradox of Nuzzling: "Nuzzling" is the tenderest form of animal affection, yet it becomes the vehicle for death. This shows how even the gentlest expressions of love can be dangerous when the lover is physically threatening.

Repetitive Conviction: "'Tis true, 'tis true" shows Venus desperately convincing herself that this romantic interpretation is correct, revealing her psychological need to find love even in death.

The Problem of Physical Incompatibility: The boar's tusks make him inherently dangerous regardless of his intentions, reflecting how some forms of love are structurally impossible due to physical or temperamental incompatibility.

Death Through Intimacy: The fatal wound occurs during an intimate embrace ("nuzzling"), making death the direct result of attempted closeness rather than distance or hostility.

The Mirror of Venus's Love: The boar's fatal affection mirrors Venus's own overwhelming love for Adonis—well-intentioned but destructive, loving but ultimately deadly to its object.

This stanza represents Venus's final psychological defense against the reality of senseless loss, transforming even the agent of destruction into a fellow lover whose only crime was loving too dangerously.