Male dishonor as guilt and shame in The Rape of Lucretia To the extent that a woman's virginity or chastity is imagined as an object that can be "possessed", rape becomes a crime against property. , consisting of the theft of a woman's "virtue" from its rightful "owner", her male guardian. Bernice Harris expresses this view regarding Titus Andronicus: "The definition of the word is based on ownership: 'rape' is an appropriate term only if what is taken is not rightfully owned" (388). The man who can claim ownership of a woman is then “dishonored” when she is raped: “‘Honor’ is therefore a function of property” (389). Although it is tempting to view the Shakespearean concept of rape entirely in such different terms, such a view is not adequate to explain the complex interactions of dishonor, shame, and guilt found in The Rape. by Lucretia. Carolyn Williams, by contrast, focuses on the tensions in modern thought between a culture of "shame" and a culture of "guilt", two codes that differ not only in their depiction of the nature of crime, but also in the consequences they entail. the victim and the importance of their statements in determining their status. In the "shame culture", rape is "a crime against property" (as Harris' definition) and "the victim's refusal of consent...does not matter: her physical condition determines her status » (94). However, in the culture of “guilt”, the woman is considered a “responsible human agent”. Therefore, “his word is of crucial importance. Lack of consent defines rape… Her ability to tell her story afterwards justifies her honor” (95). More broadly, it is possible to see the opposition between “guilt” and “shame” as representative. of greater tension in modern thought between Christian and middle of paper ......y considered a murder committed by Tarquin, and therefore the exhibition of his "bleeding body" (1851) further testifies to this . eloquently than any word on his guilt. This reconfiguration of suicide into murder is, however, only possible if the men themselves understand his death as the logical and, in fact, the only possible consequence of rape. Thus, for guilt to be correctly and explicitly attributed, men must implicitly accept the code of shame that constrains Lucretius' choice. Works Cited Harris, Bernice. “Sexuality as a Signifier of Power Relations: Using Lavinia, from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus” Critcism 38 (1996): 383-407. Watson, Curtis. Shakespeare and the Renaissance Concept of Honor Princeton: Princeton UP, 1960. Williams, Carolyn. "'Silence, Like a Lucretian Knife: Shakespeare and the Meanings of Rape." Directory of English Studies 23 (1993): 93-110.