# Venus — Poetry character guide

> Venus in Poetry by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** XI Venus

**First appearance:** 0000-venus-and-adonis

## Who they are

The goddess of love, sick-thoughted and bold-faced, who plucks a blushing boy from his horse and pleads, kisses, and lectures him toward a passion he refuses to feel.

## Relationships

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

_romantic_

Venus passionately pursues the reluctant Adonis, creating a dynamic of obsessive love and tragic rejection.

### [Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/love)

_psychological_

Love is personified as an entity Venus both embodies and struggles to control in her pursuit of Adonis.

### [Youth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/characters/youth)

_romantic_

Venus is infatuated with the youthful Adonis, representing the goddess's desire for mortal beauty and vitality.

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

_romantic_

Venus passionately pursues the reluctant Adonis, creating a dynamic of obsessive love and tragic rejection.

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

_romantic_

Venus passionately pursues the reluctant Adonis, creating a dynamic of obsessive love and tragic rejection.

## In the story

### [Venus and Adonis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/venus-and-adonis)

The goddess of love, who aggressively pursues Adonis, mourns his death, and transforms his blood into a flower.

### [The Passionate Pilgrim](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/the-passionate-pilgrim)

Appears as Cytherea, the queen of love, wooing Adonis in several poems.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/iv)

Cytherea, the queen of beauty, actively courts Adonis with seductive looks and touches.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/vi)

Cytherea, all in love forlorn, waits longingly for Adonis by a brook and gazes at him as he undresses and enters the water.

### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/ix)

The fair queen of love, paler than her milk-white dove, tries to stop Adonis from hunting by showing him a fake wound.

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/xi)

Venus actively woos Adonis, using the story of Mars to illustrate her desirability and physically embracing him.

## Links

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