Venus and Adonis/The Rape of Lucrece

Being a bit of a Shakespeare newbie myself, I was not familiar with either poem before I read them. I found them both to be very interesting takes on a totally one-sided sexual encounter--one obviously more sinister than the other.

Maybe I just need to read more Shakespeare and classical lit, but the "girl chases guy" aspect of Venus and Adonis was something that I had never quite read before in this sort of mythical context. The notion of the male being the innocent virgin was an interesting take on it. Maybe not virgin in the totally pure and virtuous sense... but he literally has no interest in Venus and calls love "a life in death". In a way he seems to have the right idea, knowing that it wasn't worth his time and that he would eventually die soon anyway.

The Rape of Lucrece was a pretty unsettling read for me. Tarquin's seemingly endless internal monolog about his motivation to commit such a horrible and unforgivable crime is pretty dark, and it seems pretty ahead of its time in execution and subject matter. He wasn't a one-sided "Snidely Whiplash" type character but rather one with some pretty deep and disturbing motivations. Lucrece's devastation also seems quite real and powerful, even though the fact that her revenge can only be completed by committing suicide is quite tragic.

Overall they were both fascinating reads and made for compelling companion pieces to each other. What did you all thing?