Snow, rain, finals week and love hang in the air as the semester takes a slow bow. Tabitha Enriquez decided to add some Shakespeare to the table.
Enriquez, coordinator of the book club Shakespeare Lovers, said she began the literary group to bring together people who have a passion for Shakespeare's more intimate works. From Nov. 22 and running for six weeks, Enriquez will expand her love of Shakespeare to include a Sex and Shakespeare workshop that will focus on the poem Venus and Adonis.
“I’ve read Venus and Adonis seven times. I fell in love with the poem,” she said.
The $5-per-meeting class will consist of reading, analyzing and discussing different forms of the epic poem. Sex and Shakespeare will also read Ovid’s earlier version of the poem.
Enriquez said she wanted to host the workshop because the poem gave a whole new meaning to her life.
“I’m planning on this being a series every year. This is could bring in people who never have heard of Shakespeare or want to meet people with the same passion,” she said.
Robert Schofield, a freshman Spanish major, said he is excited to participate in the workshop. The poem’s major theme of passion is still relevant because, he said, passion drives people to pursue something that might not have monetary value.
“I don’t think it is impossible, but not hard for a passion to become unhealthy,” he said.
Lorenzo F. Garcia Jr., an associate professor of classics, said topics such as death, love and passion cannot be experienced for or taken away from any individual.
“I think that’s what makes Shakespeare so exciting is that he found a way to express emotions so that it speaks to the human experience throughout the centuries,” he said.
In the Greek myth of Venus and Adonis, he said, the Greek goddess falls in love with a beautiful youth who dies too early for the relationship to come into fruition.
“Adonis becomes this figure in lament poetry with the feeling of loss amidst love,” he said.
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According to the myths, he said, Venus is able to make the gods fall in love with mortals as well as with each other. In order to regain their power, the gods kill Adonis to spite Venus, he said.
“Some of these poems that live on are important because they found a particular way to express or show people the importance of being in love, not being in love, death and how it all fits together in the end,” he said.
To register for the Venus and Adonis workshop, click here or email sexandshakespeareworkshop@gmail.com.
Imani Lambert is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. They can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
