Literature – Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
Classic Plays, Readings, and Study Questions / Concepts
Aug 21, 2008
The tragedy of Titus Andronicus is one of Shakespeare's earliest works, pre-dating the nearly comprehensive first folio of 1623. The play's birth is factually supported to be at least as early as 1592 – by both a journal entry written by theatre-owner Philip Henslowe as of April 11 of that year following a believed performance, coinciding with a likely textual reference to Titus Andronicus as acted in A Knack to Know a Knave, an anonymous play also viewed and logged by Henslowe on June 10th of the same year. As such, it is often wrongfully derided as crude and shallow by many critics – there is a remaining school of thought that still casts doubt on the authorship of Shakespeare with regards to the play, although the great majority of evidence runs counter to this argument.
Elizabethan Horror, Appeal to the Grotesque, Shock and Awe
Titus Andronicus is a play primarily concerned with revenge of all sorts – sexual, physical, and emotional. The emotional involvement runs very high, multiple murders, rape, insanity, and even cannibalism are large parts of the narrative. The titular character introduce himself in a bloody scene in which, upon returning home to Rome victorious, he publicly executes one of the nobles of the conquered in front of the victim's mother, Tamora, Queen of the Goths.
We are also treated to further scenes of increasing violence and horror, most notably a scene involving the character of Lavinia, daughter to Titus. During a hunt in the woods, she is belayed by Chiron and Demetrius, raped, beaten, and having her tongue cut from her mouth and her hands severed, leaving bloody stumps. Their reasoning was purely pragmatic – she must not tell anyone whom the perpetrators of this crime might be.
This mute ghost, a horror, shadows much of the action later in the play – her presence is tangible throughout. Tamora and her lover Aaron the Moor, are only marginally less villainous than the Queen's base sons, Aaron being a prideful murderer and rapist who swears that the only thing he might regret about his checkered life would be the end of his evil:
“Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.
But I have done a thousand dreadful things,
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me more heartily indeed,
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.” [V.i. 140 – 144]
Theme and Character Questions
Questioning the basic themes and notions of character in this play provide a wonderful launchpad for discussion.
- Is Aaron simply evil, or do we have to examine not only his treatment by the rest of society as a Moor (Is black so base a hue?) – and further, what of his disregard for his own life whilst devilishly protecting that of his half-breed son?
- What of Titus Andronicus – is his revenge on Tamora truly just – given that she first plead with Titus to spare her son and he failed to yield? More broadly, on the concept of vengeance and violent resolution – is all well at the end of Titus Andronicus? Are we, both thematically and as a potential audience, left with a lingering feeling of distress at the evil we have witnessed amongst a supposed civil and advanced society?
- Consider the allegiances of Titus Andronicus. Is he a father first, or a servant to the Roman Empire?
- Who are the protagonists and antagonists of this particular piece, and what are their motivations?
- Reading the play and probing oneself with these questions throughout promotes a deeper understanding and appreciation of the source material – that Titus Andronicus is not simply a peurile bloodbath but a very real examination of the bestial, often perverse shades of human behaviour that manifest themselves through the mechanism and justification of revenge.
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Those interested in American literature might do well to read up on a few John Steinbeck classics such as The Pearl, or perhaps The Moon is Down. Setting pen to paper for students can be difficult, so an essay on How to Write a Persuasive Essay might be just the ticket to success!
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