Titus Andronicus
The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, often shortened to Titus Andronicus, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.
Titus, a general in the Roman army, presents Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as a slave to the new Roman emperor, Saturninus. Saturninus takes her as his wife. From this position, Tamora vows revenge against Titus for killing her son. Titus and his family retaliate, leading to a cycle of violence.
Titus Andronicus was initially very popular, but by the later 17th century it was not well esteemed. The Victorian era disapproved of it, largely because of its graphic violence. Its reputation began to improve around the middle of the 20th century, but it is still one of Shakespeare's least respected plays.
Characters
- Titus Andronicus – renowned Roman General who lost 21 sons
- Lucius – Titus's eldest living son
- Quintus – Titus's son
- Martius – Titus's son
- Mutius – Titus's son
- Young Lucius – Lucius's son and Titus's grandson
- Lavinia – Titus's daughter
- Marcus Andronicus – Titus's brother and tribune to the people of Rome
- Publius – Marcus's son
- Saturninus – Son of the late Emperor of Rome; afterwards declared Emperor
- Bassianus – Saturninus's brother; in love with Lavinia
- Sempronius, Caius and Valentine – Titus's kinsmen
- Æmilius – Roman noble
- Tamora – Queen of the Goths; afterwards Empress of Rome
- Demetrius – Tamora's son
- Chiron – Tamora's son
- Alarbus – Tamora's son
- Aaron – a Moor; involved in a romantic relationship with Tamora
- Nurse
- Clown
- Messenger
- Roman Captain
- First Goth
- Second Goth
- Senators, Tribunes, Soldiers, Plebeians, Goths etc.
Synopsis
Meanwhile, Titus refuses the offer of the throne, arguing that he is not fit to rule and instead supporting the claim of Saturninus, who then is duly elected. Saturninus tells Titus that for his first act as emperor, he will marry Titus's daughter Lavinia. Titus agrees, although Lavinia is already betrothed to Saturninus's brother, Bassianus, who refuses to give her up. Titus's sons tell Titus that Bassianus is in the right under Roman law, but Titus refuses to listen, accusing them all of treason. A scuffle breaks out, during which Titus kills his own son, Mutius. Saturninus then denounces the Andronici family for their effrontery and shocks Titus by marrying Tamora. Putting into motion her plan for revenge, Tamora advises Saturninus to pardon Bassianus and the Andronici family, which he reluctantly does.
During a royal hunt the following day, Aaron persuades Demetrius and Chiron to kill Bassianus so that they may rape Lavinia. They do so, throwing Bassianus's body into a pit and dragging Lavinia deep into the forest before violently raping her. To keep her from revealing what has happened, they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands. Meanwhile, Aaron writes a forged letter, which frames Titus's sons Martius and Quintus for the murder of Bassianus. Horrified at the death of his brother, Saturninus arrests Martius and Quintus and sentences them to death.
Some time later, Marcus discovers the mutilated Lavinia and takes her to her father, who is still shocked at the accusations levelled at his sons, and upon seeing Lavinia, he is overcome with grief. Aaron then visits Titus and falsely tells him that Saturninus will spare Martius and Quintus if either Titus, Marcus, or Titus's remaining son, Lucius, cuts off one of their hands and sends it to him. Though Marcus and Lucius are willing, Titus has his own left hand cut off by Aaron and sends it to the emperor. However, a messenger brings back Martius's and Quintus's severed heads, along with Titus's own severed hand. Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their conquered enemy, the Goths.
Later, Lavinia writes the names of her attackers in the dirt, using a stick held with her mouth and between her arms. Meanwhile, Aaron is informed that Tamora has secretly given birth to a mixed-race baby, fathered by Aaron, which will draw Saturninus's wrath. Though Tamora wants the baby killed, Aaron kills the nurse to keep the child's race a secret and flees to raise his son among the Goths. Thereafter, Lucius, marching on Rome with an army, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. In order to save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire revenge plot to Lucius.
Back in Rome, Titus's behaviour suggests he might be deranged. Convinced of Titus's madness, Tamora, Demetrius, and Chiron approach Titus in order to persuade him to have Lucius remove his troops from Rome. Tamora tells Titus that she will grant him revenge on all of his enemies if he convinces Lucius to postpone the imminent attack on Rome. Titus agrees and sends Marcus to invite Lucius to a reconciliatory feast. Revenge then offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora as well, and is about to leave when Titus insists that Rape and Murder stay with him. When Tamora is gone, Titus has Chiron and Demetrius restrained, cuts their throats, and drains their blood into a basin held by Lavinia. Titus tells Lavinia that he will "play the cook", grind the bones of Demetrius and Chiron into powder, and bake their heads into two pies, which he will serve to their mother.
The next day, during the feast at his house, Titus asks Saturninus if a father should kill his daughter when she has been raped. When Saturninus answers that he should, Titus kills Lavinia and tells Saturninus of the rape. When the Emperor calls for Chiron and Demetrius, Titus reveals that they were baked in the pies Tamora has already been eating. Titus then kills Tamora and is immediately killed by Saturninus, who is subsequently killed by Lucius to avenge his father's death. Lucius is then proclaimed Emperor. He orders that Titus and Lavinia be laid in their family tomb, that Saturninus be given a state burial, that Tamora's body be thrown to the wild beasts outside the city, and that Aaron be hanged. Aaron, however, is unrepentant to the end, regretting only that he did not do more evil in his life. Lucius decides Aaron deserves to be buried chest-deep as punishment and left to die of thirst and starvation, and Aaron is taken away to be punished thus.
Setting and sources
Setting
The story of Titus Andronicus is fictional, not historical, unlike Shakespeare's other Roman plays, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, all of which are based on real historical events and people. Even the time in which Titus is set may not be based on a real historical period. According to the prose version of the play, the events are "set in the time of Theodosius", who ruled from 379 to 395. On the other hand, the general setting appears to be what Clifford Huffman describes as "late-Imperial Christian Rome", possibly during the reign of Justinian I. Also favouring a later date, Grace Starry West argues,the Rome of Titus Andronicus is Rome after Brutus, after Caesar, and after Ovid. We know it is a later Rome because the emperor is routinely called Caesar; because the characters are constantly alluding to Tarquin, Lucretia, and Brutus, suggesting that they learned about Brutus's new founding of Rome from the same literary sources we do, Livy and Plutarch.
Others are less certain of a specific setting, however. For example, Jonathan Bate has pointed out that the play begins with Titus returning from a successful ten-year campaign against the Goths, as if at the height of the Roman Empire, but ends with Goths invading Rome, as if at its death. Similarly, T. J. B. Spencer argues that
the play does not assume a political situation known to Roman history; it is, rather a summary of Roman politics. It is not so much that any particular set of political institutions is assumed in Titus, but rather that it includes all the political institutions that Rome ever had.
Ballad, prose history, and source debate
Any discussion of the sources of Titus Andronicus is complicated by the existence of two other versions of the story; a prose history and a ballad; both are anonymous and undated.Ultimately, there is no clear critical consensus on the issue of the order in which the play, prose, and ballad were written, with the only tentative agreement being that at the latest, all three were probably in existence by 1594.
The first definite reference to the ballad "Titus Andronicus' Complaint" is an entry in the Stationers' Register by the printer John Danter on 6 February 1594, where the entry "A booke intitled a Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus" is immediately followed by "Entred also vnto him, the ballad thereof". The earliest surviving copy of the ballad is in Richard Johnson's The Golden Garland of Princely Pleasures and Delicate Delights, but the date of its composition is unknown.
The prose was first published in chapbook form some time between 1736–1764 by Cluer Dicey under the title The History of Titus Andronicus, the Renowned Roman General, however it is believed to be much older than that. The copyright records from the Stationers' Register in Shakespeare's own lifetime provide some tenuous evidence regarding the dating of the prose. On 19 April 1602, the publisher Thomas Millington sold his share in the copyright of "A booke intitled a Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus" to Thomas Pavier. The orthodox belief is that this entry refers to the play.
The next version of the play to be published was for Edward White, in 1611, printed by Edward Allde, thus prompting the question of why Pavier never published the play, despite having owned the copyright for nine years. J.Q. Adams believes that the original Danter entry in 1594 is not a reference to the play but instead to the prose version, and that the subsequent transferrals of copyright relate to the prose, not the play, explaining why the play was never published by Pavier. Similarly, Greg believes that all copyright to the play lapsed upon Danter's death in 1600, hence the 1602 transferral from Millington to Pavier was illegitimate unless it refers to something other than the play; i.e. the prose. Both scholars conclude that the evidence seems to imply the prose existed by early 1594 at the latest.
However, even if the prose version existed in 1594, there is no solid evidence to suggest the order in which the play, ballad, and prose were written, and which served as source for which. Traditionally, the prose has been seen as the original, with the play derived from it, and the ballad derived from both play and prose. Adams, for example, firmly believed in this order as did John Dover Wilson and Geoffrey Bullough. This theory is by no means universally accepted however. For example, R.M. Sargent agrees with Adams and Bullough that the prose was the source of the play, but he argues that the poem was also a source of the play.
Marco Mincoff rejects both theories, arguing instead that the play came first, and served as a source for both the ballad and the prose. G.H. Metz felt that Mincoff was incorrect and reasserted the primacy of the prose-play-ballad sequence. G.K. Hunter however, believes that Adams, Dover Wilson, Bullough, Sargent, Mincoff, and Metz were all wrong, and the play was the source for the prose, with both serving as sources for the ballad. In his 1984 edition of the play for The Oxford Shakespeare, E.M. Waith rejects Hunter's theory and supports the original prose-play-ballad sequence.
On the other hand, Jonathan Bate favours Mincoff's theory of play-ballad-prose, in his 1995 edition for the Arden Shakespeare. In the introduction to the 2001 edition of the play for the Penguin Shakespeare, Jacques Berthoud agrees with Waith and settles on the initial prose-play-ballad sequence. In his 2006 revised edition for the New Cambridge Shakespeare, Alan Hughes also argues for the original prose-play-ballad hypothesis, but proposes that the source for the ballad was exclusively the prose, not the play.