While the theatres were closed due to the plague in 1593/94, Shakespeare wrote his epyllion The Rape of Lucrece that has also been described as a dramatic long poem. He opens the poem with Tarquin and his lust, and he makes the soul central from the beginning; the soul hence becomes one of the keys to understanding the text. The chapter shows how the epyllion becomes a drama in which antagonistic characters – Tarquin and Lucrece but also body and soul – act and interact. The characters in the epyllion are given a psychological motivation for their deeds, and the implied allegory is diversified in that it is combined with introspection. Shakespeare changes his source material to this effect: he re-motivates the Roman myth in making the protagonists representative of inner forces and as having individual minds that debate and reflect on their actions.