🌹 Stanza 71 - Literary Analysis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

📖 Original Stanza

‘You hurt my hand with wringing. Let us part,
And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat:
Remove your siege from my unyielding heart;
To love’s alarms it will not ope the gate:  
Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery;
For where a heart is hard they make no battery.’

🔍 Line-by-Line Analysis

Line 1: "You hurt my hand with wringing. Let us part,"

• "You hurt my hand with wringing": This phrase refers to Venus's aggressive or persistent grip on Adonis's hand, indicating physical discomfort on his part. "Wringing" implies a twisting or squeezing motion, suggesting a forceful or desperate hold from Venus. Shakespeare uses this immediate physical complaint to underscore Adonis's desire to escape and his discomfort with Venus's intensity, setting a tone of resistance from the outset.
• "Let us part": This is a direct, imperative statement from Adonis, expressing his clear and immediate desire to separate from Venus. It signifies his complete rejection of her advances and his wish to end their interaction decisively. Shakespeare employs this blunt request to highlight Adonis's firm resolve and his disinterest in pursuing any further contact with Venus.
• Meaning: "You are hurting my hand by twisting it. Let's separate now."

Line 2: "And leave this idle theme, this bootless chat:"

• "And leave this idle theme": "Idle" here means useless, unproductive, or trivial. "Theme" refers to the subject of their conversation, which is Venus's pursuit of love and her attempts to win Adonis over. Adonis views the entire topic as pointless and without value. Shakespeare uses "idle" to diminish the significance of Venus's passionate pleas, framing them as trivial and time-wasting from Adonis's perspective.
• "this bootless chat": "Bootless" means fruitless, useless, or unavailing; achieving no good result. "Chat" refers to their entire discourse and Venus's persistent arguments. Adonis perceives their interaction about love as entirely unproductive and futile, as it will not lead to his reciprocation. Shakespeare emphasizes Adonis's conviction that Venus's words and efforts are in vain, reinforcing his unwavering disinterest.
• Meaning: "And let's abandon this pointless subject, this unproductive conversation."

Line 3: "Remove your siege from my unyielding heart;"

• "Remove your siege": This is a direct command employing a military metaphor. A "siege" is a prolonged military operation in which a force surrounds a fortified place, cutting off supplies and communications, in an attempt to compel a surrender. Adonis portrays Venus's relentless pursuit as an aggressive, unwelcome attack or blockade against his emotions. Shakespeare uses this powerful imagery to convey the overwhelming and intrusive nature of Venus's advances from Adonis's perspective.
• "from my unyielding heart": "Unyielding" means firm, inflexible, stubborn, or resistant to pressure. Adonis's heart is depicted as a strong, impenetrable fortress that will not surrender to Venus's romantic assaults. This extends the military metaphor, likening his emotional core to a stronghold that cannot be breached. Shakespeare highlights Adonis's steadfast refusal of love and his emotional imperviousness to Venus's charms.
• Meaning: "Stop your aggressive attack on my stubborn, resistant heart."

Line 4: "To love’s alarms it will not ope the gate:"

• "To love’s alarms": "Alarms" here refer to calls to arms, signals of an attack, or disturbances intended to rouse action. Within the ongoing military metaphor, these are the persuasive overtures and emotional appeals of love itself, trying to penetrate the defenses of Adonis's heart. Shakespeare personifies love as an entity that issues commands or warnings, which Adonis's heart resolutely ignores.
• "it will not ope the gate": "Ope" is an archaic contraction of "open." The "gate" is part of the fortress (his heart). This signifies that his heart will not allow love to enter or gain access, reinforcing its impregnability. This phrase concludes the immediate military metaphor, illustrating the complete and final resistance of Adonis's emotional core to any romantic intrusion. Shakespeare underlines Adonis's unshakeable resolve and the futility of Venus's attempts to conquer his affection.
• Meaning: "My heart will not open its gate to the calls or disturbances of love."

Line 5: "Dismiss your vows, your feigned tears, your flattery;"

• "Dismiss your vows": "Vows" are solemn promises, particularly declarations of love or devotion. Adonis is telling Venus to abandon or ignore her declarations of affection, implying he considers them meaningless or irrelevant to him. Shakespeare conveys Adonis's complete disinterest in Venus's emotional pledges.
• "your feigned tears": "Feigned" means faked, pretended, or artificial. Adonis perceives Venus's tears as insincere and manipulative, a tactic used to evoke sympathy or sway him. Shakespeare reveals Adonis's cynical and astute perception of Venus's emotional displays, viewing them as theatrical ploys rather than genuine expressions of sorrow or passion.
• "your flattery": "Flattery" is excessive and often insincere praise, typically given to gain favor. Adonis dismisses Venus's compliments as dishonest attempts to persuade him. Shakespeare emphasizes Adonis's clear-sightedness; he sees through Venus's rhetorical and emotional strategies with disdain, underscoring his immunity to her seductive arts.
• Meaning: "Stop your promises of love, your fake tears, and your insincere compliments."

Line 6: "For where a heart is hard they make no battery."

• "For where a heart is hard": This statement reinforces the earlier description of Adonis's "unyielding heart" (Line 3), emphasizing its firm, unfeeling, or impervious nature. "Hard" signifies emotional impermeability and resistance to persuasion. Shakespeare reiterates the central metaphor of Adonis's emotionally fortified heart, making it clear that his core being is unresponsive to love.
• "they make no battery": "Battery" in a military context refers to a sustained bombardment, or the destructive force of artillery used to breach fortifications. Here, it means an effective assault or impact. Adonis asserts that Venus's methods—her vows, tears, and flattery—are utterly ineffective against his resilient heart; they have no power to break down his resistance. Shakespeare uses this strong, final military image to emphatically state that all of Venus's persuasive and emotional "ammunition" has no effect on Adonis, sealing his impregnability.
• Meaning: "Because when a heart is unyielding, those things have no power to make an impression or effect a change."

🎭 Literary Devices

🎯 Overall Meaning & Significance in the Context of the Poem

Stanza 71 delivers Adonis's most explicit and forceful rejection of Venus's advances, marking a crucial turning point in their interaction. It solidifies his character as chaste, unyielding, and completely immune to the goddess of love's charms. The central metaphor of his "unyielding heart" as a fortress under a "siege" brilliantly conveys his resolute emotional impermeability and the futility of Venus's relentless pursuit. He dismisses her appeals as "idle," "bootless," and her emotional displays as "feigned" and "flattery," stripping them of any genuine power over him.

This stanza is significant because it directly confronts the theme of unrequited love, where one party's intense desire is met with absolute indifference, even disdain. Adonis's youthful aversion to love, his preference for the purity and simplicity of nature and hunting over the complexities of passion, is starkly contrasted with Venus's mature, overwhelming desire. His "hard" heart becomes a central motif, symbolizing his purity and, ironically, his vulnerability to the untamed wild (represented by the boar later in the poem). The stanza sets up the dramatic tension for the rest of the poem, as Venus's frustration intensifies in the face of Adonis's steadfast rejection, highlighting the power dynamics and the ultimate failure of aggressive persuasion when true consent and attraction are absent. It underscores Shakespeare's exploration of desire, rejection, and the very nature of love itself as either a destructive force or a pure, unblemished state.