# Lucrece — Poetry character guide

> Lucrece in Poetry by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Poor Lucrece, sweet Lucrece, Lucretia, Harmless Lucretia

**First appearance:** 0001-the-rape-of-lucrece

## Who they are

A Roman wife whose beauty and virtue are praised so recklessly by her husband that a prince rides to Collatium to test the treasure for himself.

## Relationships

### [Lucretius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/lucretius)

_family_

Lucrece is the devoted wife of Lucretius, and her rape and suicide bring him profound grief and a drive for vengeance.

### [Collatine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/collatine)

_family_

Collatine is Lucrece's husband, whose boast about her virtue inadvertently leads to her tragedy.

### [Tarquin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/tarquin)

_psychological_

Tarquin obsessively desires Lucrece and rapes her, making her his victim and driving her to suicide.

### [Collatinus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/collatinus)

_family_

Collatinus is Lucrece's father, who shares in the family's devastation after her rape and death.

### [Priam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/priam)

_psychological_

Lucrece identifies with Priam's grief after viewing a tapestry of Troy, seeing her own sorrow mirrored in his loss.

### [Pyrrhus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/pyrrhus)

_psychological_

Lucrece compares Tarquin's violence to Pyrrhus's brutal killing of Priam, seeing both as monstrous acts.

### [Adonis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/adonis)

_social_

Adonis and Lucrece are characters from separate poems by Shakespeare, linked only by thematic parallels of tragic beauty.

### [Philomela](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/philomela)

_psychological_

Lucrece compares herself to Philomela, another rape victim, finding a tragic sisterhood in shared suffering.

### [Tarquin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/tarquin)

_psychological_

Tarquin obsessively desires Lucrece and rapes her, making her his victim and driving her to suicide.

### [Priam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/priam)

_psychological_

Lucrece identifies with Priam's grief after viewing a tapestry of Troy, seeing her own sorrow mirrored in his loss.

### [Pyrrhus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/pyrrhus)

_psychological_

Lucrece compares Tarquin's violence to Pyrrhus's brutal killing of Priam, seeing both as monstrous acts.

### [Lucretius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/lucretius)

_family_

Lucrece is the devoted wife of Lucretius, and her rape and suicide bring him profound grief and a drive for vengeance.

## In the story

### [The Argument](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/the-argument)

The victim of Tarquin's assault, she laments her shame and the night.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/lucrece
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters