Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece

By: William Shakespeare, Charlie Creed

Narrated by: Joel Daffurn, David Roberts

Shakespeare's classic poem the "Rape of Lucrece" with additional commentary and analysis by Charlie Creed.

The tragic poem, dominated by the themes of lust, crime, and revenge, tells the story of soldiers Tarquin and Collatine, and Collatine's wife Lucrece. It is believed to have been written in 1594. It is set just prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic. It is a poem with some similarity to Shakespeare's tragic revenge play, Titus Andronicus, and features aspects of other great Shakespearian works. This audiobook includes the full poem, as well as opening and closing commentary and analysis, and a section-by-section discussion of the poem in parallel with the narration of the text. The commentary explores the themes of the meter and style used by Shakespeare, as well as the objectification of women seen in the poem and the poem's exploration of shame and honor. The poem is 1,855 lines long with the complete version of the poem lasting approximately two hours, and the version including commentary runs closer to three hours with introductory and concluding comments.

This is one of Shakespeare's great poetic works along with "Venus and Adonis", written one year earlier, and of course, his sonnets. Given the adult themes of the poem, this is best suited to for a mature audience.

©2021 Charlie Creed (P)2021 Historical Audiobooks