"Women are from Venus, Men from Mars" has become shorthand for the differences between the sexes, but it is made literal in Shakespeare's erotic poem Venus and Adonis. In pressing a romantic suit upon the beautiful youth, the Love Goddess Venus describes in a brief passage Her seduction of the War God Mars. This segment from Shakespeare's poem (lines 97-114) can stand alone as the story of Mars and Venus' Relationship:
"I have been wooed, as I entreat thee now, even by the stern and direful God of War, whose sinewy neck in battle never did bow, who conquers where He comes in every jar; yet hath He been My captive and My slave, and begged for that which thou unasked shall have."
[A CERTAIN DOMINATRIX QUALITY UNDENIABLY ENTERS VENUS' CONVERSATION, AS SHE DESCRIBES CAPTIVATING AND EROTICALLY ENSLAVING MARS, PROVING THE POWER OF LOVE AND PLEASURE TO CONQUER THE WAR-LIKE SPIRIT. QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU THINK VENUS IS TALKING ABOUT WHEN SHE SAYS, "THAT WHICH THOU UNASKED SHALL HAVE," WHICH MARS BEGGED FOR?]
Saraceni's Venus and Mars
"Over My altars hath He hung His lance, His battered shield, His uncontrolled crest, and for My sake hath learned to sport and dance, to toy, to wanton, dally, smile, and jest, scorning His churlish drum and ensign red, making My arms His field, His tent My bed. "
[VENUS EMPHASIZES HOW, TO PLEASE HER, MARS LEARNED TO "SPORT AND DANCE, TOY AND WANTON." NOTE THE MINGLING OF THE EROTIC AND THE MARTIAL, IN "MARS MAKES VENUS' ARMS HIS SOLDIER'S FIELD, AND VENUS' BED, HIS BATTLE-TENT." SHE HAS TAKEN THE GOD OF WAR, AND GOTTEN HIM TO LUXURIATE IN LOVE-MAKING- AN ELIZABETHAN REALIZATION OF THE '60S HIPPIE SLOGAN "MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR."]
"Thus He that overruled I over swayed, leading Him prisoner in a red-rose chain; strong-tempered steel His stronger strength obeyed, yet was He servile to My coy disdain. O, be not proud! Nor brag not of thy might! For mastering Her that foiled the God of Fight!"
[VENUS GOES BACK INTO DOMINATRIX MODE A BIT, LEADING MARS AROUND AT THE END OF A CHAIN (FIGURATIVELY, I ASSUME), AND BEING DELIBERATELY TEMPERAMENTAL, BEFORE URGING ADONIS TO RELENT TO HER COURTSHIP, AS DID EVEN MARS THE WAR-GOD.]
Note: I do this thing with reproducing Shakespeare, where I ignore the block-verse format customary with his work (a convention of the Elizabethan era), and render his words as direct sentences (how we are accustomed to reading and understanding dialogue, such as Shakespeare's plays present.) My belief is that this assists in the comprehension of what his characters are saying (who are speaking dialogue, after all). I have done the same here, despite the fact that "Venus and Adonis" is a formal poem, out of a hope that readers will find the verse easier to read if they can follow the sense of the lines straightforwardly, from the beginning to the end of the sentences. Other than capitalizing pronouns associated with Venus and Mars (in order to better render a sense of Their Divinity), I have not made any changes to the text.
Origin: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com
