In Shakespeare's play Venus and Adonis the perception I gathered immediately led me to think of a “Mrs. Robinson” such character for Venus. I interpreted Venus to be essentially ancient compared to Adonis, who is a mere child in retrospect. Yes, he’s probably early teens, but definitely has not quite hit puberty yet (kind of like Justin Bieber). If that is in fact the case, as I perceived it, this is essentially a boy who is probably not interested in females yet, and honestly cares more interested in hanging out with his friends than spending time with a woman… particularly an old one. Venus sets the vibe for an old lady and young boy in mentioning his lack of facial hair, (which we all know), and questioning why he would not want to be with her. However, with her descriptions, who could blame him?
In modern day, we’ve all seen a woman who is 50, who tries
to look as though she is still 18. This is a woman who might be represented as
a Venus type character, because perhaps these women look for younger company to
soothe their loneliness. However, I would take a few steps further, first by
saying, Venus could be considered a modern day cougar, or perhaps in the past
few decades, a Mrs. Robinson. Mrs. Robinson,
of course, relating back to the song by Simon and Garfunkel which was written
for the movie The Graduate. This movie
depicted a college graduate having an affair with an older woman named Mrs.
Robinson. However, does this really depict the Venus character that Shakespeare
had imagined? Yes, Venus is older than Adonis, but being a cougar seems
different when comparing her to being with a child who hasn’t gone through puberty,
or is very close to puberty. I imagine the cougar like woman to be something more
of Stifler’s mom from American Pie.
This naturally leads to the next step, which is the atrocity
that is 50 Shades of Grey. Yes, it’s
terrible, but here me out. There was a Mrs. Robinson character in this book as
well, who in fact was a Mrs. Robinson to a pre-pubescent boy. Now, were does
this leave Venus? Venus is a woman attempting to seduce a young boy who is
clearly uninterested in her offerings. As 50
Shades of Grey is viewed, the Mrs. Robinson figure is considered almost worth
a prison conviction. Thus, the fact that Venus is attracted to the boy who is
still lacking facial hair is fairly concerning and almost pedophile-y. I do
believe it would be a different story if she were seducing perhaps a sixteen or
seventeen year old boy who is still young but has gone through puberty,
however, she is not. As I imagine Adonis, I see him as 14 to 15 year old boy
who is simply uninterested in the warmth of a woman at his age. In this sense I
get the ’Mrs. Robinson’ vibe from Venus, for being persistent and selective in
her attempts to woo Adonis. However, this is just my interpretation and it is
totally up for debate: questions, comments, bitches or gripes?
