<i>Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece,</i> and the <i>Isabelle</i> of Nicolas de Montreux

This article proposes that Nicolas de Montreux's tragedy Isabelle ( c . 1584), which draws its main plot and framing elements from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso , presents distinctive resemblances to both Shakespeare's early narrative poems. Its heroine chooses death to avoid a rape, with the example of Lucrece multiply evoked. Framing this episode is an amorous pursuit illustrating the tyrannical potency of both love and hate in a way anticipating the goddess's rejection by Shakespeare's Adonis. While Isabelle cannot be considered a formal source, there is reason to hypothesise its catalytic function for Shakespeare at a formative stage of his career.