Titus Andronicus

“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head''

29 Dec, 20246 min read

Titus Andronicus, or by its full name The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus is a tragedy written by the English playwright William Shakespeare. Like many of Shakespeare's other plays, there is no definite date as to which the play has been written. It is believed to be written somewhere between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and earliest Roman play, written in his spirit of time to keep up with the violent and bloody revenge plays. Although it was very popular in its first appearance and staging in the 16th century, the play itself was disapproved by many later on due to its graphic violence, especially by the Victorians. Even Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's most bloody plays may seem innocent enought next to this play. For this reason, it has been speculated that this play was not written by Shakespeare and rather someone else. However, some have just brushed it off, saying that it was his first ever tragedy and wrote on what was already popular. Spoiler alert: things get really gory!

With the death of the Roman emperor, his sons Saturninus and Bassianus compete to succeed their father's throne. While the brothers compete, the tribune representing the commoners Marcus Andronicus declares that the people are actually in favor of his brother, the general Titus Andronicus. While all of these are going on Titus was at war with the Goths. Victorious, Titus returns to Rome with five prisoners: Tamora, the queen of the goths, her three sons, and Aaron the Moor. To avenge his own fallen sons, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son despite her begging. Tamora vows to take revenge after her son's death. Due to his achievement and his brother's declaration, Titus is offered the Roman throne but he refuses. Instead, he declares his support for Saturninus who now becomes the emperor. As emperor, Saturninus decides that he wants to marry Titus' daughter, Lavinia. However, Lavinia is already bethroted to his brother Bassianus. In an attempt to help her sister, Mutius gets killed by his own father Titus. After all of these happen, Saturninus decides to marry Tamora who was gifted to him by Titus. Saturninus liberates the prisoners and marries Tamora, making her the Roman empress.

Although Saturninus has laid his eyes off of Lavinia, she is now the object of desire for Tamora's sons. As they are arguing over who will marry her, Aaron distrupts them . He says that they do not need to necessarily marry Lavinia. Instead, he suggests that they rape her together during the royal hunt. However, this is not the only thing they have schemed. They also plan to kill Bassianus and frame Titus' sons for the murder as well. They carry out their scheme at the royal hunt, murdering Bassianus and throwing him in a pit near a bag of gold Aaron buried. They also push Titus' sons in the same pit, where they are found by Saturninus later on. He concludes that Titus' sons have killed his brother in exchange for gold. Meanwhile, Tamora's sons assault Lavinia. To ensure that she won't give their names, they cut her hands and her tongue.

Framed with the murder of Bassianus, Titus pleas for the lives of his sons to no avail. Instead, his other son Lucius is banished for aiding Bassianus' assasination. Aaron tells the emperor that he could pardon them on one condition: that someone of the Andronicus family cuts off and sends them their hand. Titus accepts this and cuts off his own hand, sending it to the emperor to be pardoned. However, instead of pardoning him and his family, the emperor rejects the exchange. He sends back Titus his severed hand with the heads of his two sons. With the injustices and suffering of his family, Titus is now on the edge of his sanity. Just then, Lavinia finds a way to tell who cut raped her and cut her hands and tongue. She shows what happened to her through a book, then spells out the names of Tamora's sons with a stick she holds in her mouth. Aaron learns of this incident, but before he can do anything a baby is brought before him. The baby, unlike Saturninus and Tamora, is dark skinned. The father is actually Aaron, Tamora's lover who was initially brought with her. To prevent the news from spreading, Aaron kills the nurse who brought the baby and they escape together.

Towards the end, Titus seems to compeltely lose his mind and sanity. He shoots arrows with letters into the sky, hoping to send messages to the gods. He also sends two pigeons and a knife to the emperor, which taunts him into killing Titus further. While all of these are happening, Titus' banished son Lucius leads the Goth army to Rome. The army also discovers Aaron and his child while they were escaping. Aaron tells Lucius about the truth behind the death of Bassanio. Meanwhile, Tamora and her sons, disguised as spirits of murder, rape, and vengeance visit Titus, thinking that he won't recognize them due to his madness. However, after Tamora leaves, Titus and Lavinia butcher the sons. However, Titus' bloodthrist and vengeance does not end here. He throws a feast in which he invites Tamora and Saturninus as guests. He tells Saturninus the story of Virginus, who killed his daughter to protect her from shame. Saturninus agrees with the viewpoint and reasoning behind the story. Upon hearing this, Titus tells what befell Lavinia and murders her right there. Saturninus asks that Tamora's sons be brought before him, only for Titus to tell that they were already there. They were in the pie that everyone had ate. After revelaing this, Titus then murders Tamora. Saturninus kills Titus, and lastly Lucius kills Saturninus. Lucius now becomes the new emperor and orders that Aaron, the mind between all of these horrors be buried alive. While he gives royal burials to Titus and Lavinia, Tamora's corpse is thrown out on the streets for the animals to eat.