Skip Navigation

Forum for Modern Language Studies 2008 44(1):12-26; doi:10.1093/fmls/cqm124
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Langley, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press for the Court of the University of St Andrews. All rights reserved

"And Died to Kiss his Shadow": The Narcissistic Gaze in Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis

Eric Langley

School of English
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
Fife KY16 9AL
United Kingdom


  Abstract

Reading Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis in the light of contemporary conceptions of vision, this article argues that the epyllion's rhetoric of like kindness and loving mutuality is predicated upon a conception of visual reciprocation achieved in the exchange of eyebeams. Consequently, it is in this context of ocular exchange and reflection that the poet introduces the figure of Narcissus, figuring the Ovidian youth as an epitome of dangerous visual kindness. While initially it is the self-sufficient Adonis who is associated with the introverted Narcissus, ultimately it is Venus, whose manifesto of erotic exchange and reciprocation insists upon reflection, who exhibits the attitude and rhetorical characteristics of the self-interested self-lover.

Key Words: Venus • Adonis • Shakespeare • Narcissus • vision • eyebeam • epyllion • Ovid • Plato • love


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.