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Title: Titus Andronicus
Author:
William Shakespeare
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Play
Pages: 219
Words: 63K
From Wikipedia
Shortly after the death
of the Roman emperor, his two sons, Saturninus and Bassianus, quarrel
over who will succeed him. Their conflict seems set to boil over into
violence until a tribune, Marcus Andronicus, announces that the
people's choice for the new emperor is Marcus's brother, Titus, who
will shortly return to Rome from a victorious ten-year campaign
against the Goths. Titus arrives to much fanfare, bearing with him as
prisoners Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons Alarbus, Chiron,
and Demetrius, and her secret lover, Aaron the Moor. Despite Tamora's
desperate pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son, Alarbus, to avenge
the deaths of twenty-five of his own sons during the war. Distraught,
Tamora and her two surviving sons vow to obtain revenge on Titus and
his family.
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' 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 former 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 (dressed as the spirits of
Revenge, Murder, and Rape, respectively) approach Titus in order to
persuade him to have Lucius remove his troops from Rome. Tamora (as
Revenge) 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.
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 pie Tamora has just 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.
The last time I read some Shakespeare was last year in August when I
made it through Richard
III. I needed a break and so of course, once I’m back,
I start out with Titus Andronicus, possibly the most violent, the
most disturbing and the most outlandish of all his plays. I’m going
to keep the “Synopsis” and “My Thoughts” format for
Shakespeare even while I’ve abandoned it for all the rest of the
books I read. I want a place I can put the entire synopsis from
Wikipedia and then easily hide it with the details code. I don’t
ever plan on reading Shakespeare again but I do want to know what
each play is about.
Ugh. Titus murders his own son. His daughter is raped and maimed. He
chops off his own hand. Another son is sent into exile. He kills the
men who raped his daughter, bakes their flesh into a pie and feeds it
to the mother of the men. He then dies himself.
Good times on the Good Ship Lollypop, eh? Not even Shirley Temple
could have tap danced this into a happy story. There were several
times I was just about ready to call it quits on Shakespeare and to
let him rot in his mouldering grave. But I forged ahead because I was
wearing my Big Boy Pants and that’s what you do. All I can say is
that whatever I read next from Shakespeare had better be better than
this play.
★✬☆☆☆
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