🌹 Stanza 187 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

'Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess,
With kissing him I should have kill'd him first;
But he is dead, and never did he bless
My youth with his; the more am I accurst.'
With this she falleth in the place she stood,
And stains her face with his congealed blood.

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "'Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess,"

"Had I been tooth'd like him": If I had been equipped with tusks like the boar. Venus imagines herself with the boar's dangerous anatomy.
"I must confess": I must admit, I have to acknowledge. Venus makes an honest admission about her own dangerous nature.
Meaning: "If I had tusks like his, I must admit,"

Line 2: "With kissing him I should have kill'd him first;"

"With kissing him": Through my kisses, by means of kissing him. Venus's affection would have been the weapon.
"I should have kill'd him first": I would have killed him before the boar did. Venus admits her love could have been equally fatal.
Meaning: "My kisses would have killed him before the boar could;"

Line 3: "But he is dead, and never did he bless"

"But he is dead": However, he is now dead. Venus returns to the reality of her loss.
"and never did he bless": And he never blessed, he never honored or made happy. Adonis never gave Venus what she wanted.
Meaning: "But he is dead, and he never blessed"

Line 4: "My youth with his; the more am I accurst.’"

"My youth with his": My youthful beauty with his youthful beauty. Venus wanted their beauties to be joined.
"the more am I accurst": The more I am cursed, the more unfortunate I am. Her curse is increased by this denial.
Meaning: "My youth with his; the more cursed I am.'"

Line 5: "With this she falleth in the place she stood,"

"With this": With these words, upon saying this. Her speech triggers her collapse.
"she falleth in the place she stood": She falls down right where she was standing. Venus collapses from grief and despair.
Meaning: "With these words she falls down where she stood,"

Line 6: "And stains her face with his congealed blood."

"And stains her face": And marks her face, and colors her face. She deliberately marks herself with his blood.
"with his congealed blood": With his thickened, clotted blood. The blood has solidified, showing time has passed since his death.
Meaning: "And marks her face with his dried blood."

🎭 Literary Devices

Device	Example	Effect
Hypothetical Comparison	"Had I been tooth'd like him"	Shows Venus identifying with the boar's dangerous nature
Self-Condemnation	"I should have kill'd him first"	Venus admits her love could have been equally destructive
Confession	"I must confess"	Creates tone of honest self-examination
Parallel Destruction	Venus and boar both potentially fatal	Shows love's universal capacity for destruction
Dramatic Collapse	"she falleth in the place she stood"	Physical manifestation of emotional breakdown
Blood Imagery	"congealed blood"	Emphasizes the reality of death and passage of time
Ritualistic Action	Staining face with blood	Suggests mourning ritual or marking of grief
Curse Language	"the more am I accurst"	Presents her situation as supernatural punishment

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

This stanza represents Venus's ultimate recognition of her own potentially destructive nature and her complete physical and emotional collapse in the face of loss. It shows her final identification with the boar as a fellow dangerous lover.

Venus's Self-Recognition: For the first time, Venus honestly acknowledges that her own love could have been fatal. "Had I been tooth'd like him" shows her recognizing that she, like the boar, was a dangerous lover whose affection could kill.

The Equality of Dangerous Love: Venus admits she "should have kill'd him first," placing herself and the boar on equal footing as potential destroyers. This shows sophisticated self-awareness about the destructive potential of overwhelming love.

The Confession of Competitive Love: "I should have kill'd him first" reveals Venus's jealousy—she's almost competitive with the boar about who would have destroyed Adonis. This shows the possessive nature of her love.

The Double Curse: Venus's curse is doubled—not only is she denied Adonis's love, but she never even got the chance to destroy him herself. This reveals the disturbing psychology of possessive love.

Physical Manifestation of Grief: "She falleth in the place she stood" shows grief as a physical force that literally brings her down. The collapse is immediate and total.

Ritualistic Blood-Staining: Venus staining her face with Adonis's "congealed blood" suggests a mourning ritual or an attempt to physically merge with him in death since she couldn't in life.

The Reality of Time: "Congealed blood" emphasizes that time has passed—Adonis has been dead long enough for his blood to thicken and dry. This detail makes the death concrete and final.

Marking and Identity: By staining her face with his blood, Venus attempts to take on his identity or mark herself as his. This is both a mourning ritual and a desperate attempt at union.

The Completeness of Defeat: This stanza shows Venus's complete defeat—physical, emotional, and psychological. She has nothing left but the acknowledgment of her own dangerous nature.

The Paradox of Protective Destruction: Venus's admission that she would have killed him "first" reveals the paradox of possessive love—the desire to possess so completely that it becomes destructive.

This stanza represents the climax of Venus's emotional journey, showing her final honest self-assessment and complete surrender to grief, marked by the physical and symbolic act of covering herself with Adonis's blood.