| Titus Andronicus |
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Period written: 1593-1594
First known performance: January 24, 1594 (Rose Theatre) The Emperor of Rome dies, and his sons squabble over who will succeed him. The Tribune of the People, Marcus Andronicus, announces, however, that Titus Andronicus, a Roman general newly returned from ten years' campaigning against the foes of the empire is the people’s choice of successor. Titus Andronicus enters Rome to much fanfare, bearing with him Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her sons, and Aaron the Moor. Titus refuses the throne, abdicating in favor of Saturninus, and sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son to the memory of his own sons who died during his campaign, earning her hatred for the remainder of the play. Saturninus makes Tamora Empress of Rome, and she subsequently plots her revenge against Titus with the aid of Aaron, her lover. She frames Titus’s two sons for the murder of Bassianus, Saturninus’s brother. She then encourages her own sons Chiron and Demetrius to rape and mutilate Lavinia, Titus’s daughter, cutting off her hands and tongue so that she cannot testify against them. Soon after, Titus’s remaining son, Lucius, is exiled from Rome, later allying himself with the remaining Goths in order to lay siege to Rome. After cutting off his own hand in exchange for the promised return of his two imprisoned sons, Titus appears to grow mad with grief when he is sent back only their heads. Lavinia manages to write out the names of her attackers in the dirt by holding a rod with her stumps and in her mouth. Armed with this knowledge, Titus begins exhibiting strange behaviors, such as tying written prayers to arrows and commanding his kinsmen to aim them at the sky, or to dig until they reach the realm of Pluto and deliver them. Marcus directs their kinsmen to aim their arrows so that they will land in a volley inside the palace of Saturninus. Meanwhile, Lucius captures Aaron and, by threatening to kill the bastard son he fathered on Tamora, learns that it was Aaron who plotted the murder of Titus' sons, the loss of his hand, and the rape and disfigurement of Lavinia. Tamora, hoping to take advantage of his apparent madness, approaches Titus along with her two sons, dressed as the spirits of Revenge, Murder, and Rape. Tamora tells Titus that she will grant him justice if he will convince Lucius to stop attacking Rome. Titus, having but feigned madness, agrees, on the condition that "Rape" and "Murder" (Chiron and Demetrius) remain with him. Tamora agrees, and Titus kills Chiron and Demetrius, cooking them into a meal. At the peace conference at Titus' home, he kills Lavinia before the assembled guests. When questioned by Saturninus, Titus reveals that Chiron and Demetrius had raped Lavinia, and that they had been baked into the pie which their mother had just eaten. Titus instigates a bloodbath which claims Tamora, Saturninus, and Titus himself. Lucius, ascending the throne with the blessing of the masses, rules that Saturninus' body be buried in his family crypt, that Tamora's body be thrown to wild beasts, and that an unrepentant Aaron be buried chest-deep and left to die of thirst and starvation. Discuss this play in our forums.
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