How Titus Andronicus drew on The Aeneid
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Virgil’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Aeneid
Virgil · 19 BCE
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Titus Andronicus
William Shakespeare · c. 1592
ShakespeareRelevance
6/10
On Titus Andronicus’s page
- The Roman revenge play is built on Virgil — Titus shadows Aeneas, and Tamora shadows Dido, who is named twice
- Alarbus's ritual sacrifice grimly recalls Aeneid XI, and Aeneas's account of Troy's fall is woven directly in
- Read Virgil first and you see what Shakespeare is darkening: the epic's pious hero turned loose into cruelty
On The Aeneid’s page
- Virgil's epic furnishes the dark frame for Shakespeare's bloodiest play
- In Titus Andronicus, Titus is aligned with Aeneas and Tamora with Dido — named twice — while Aeneas's own narration of Troy's fall is echoed directly
- Watch the Aeneid's pietas, Virgil's sacred duty, curdle into barbarism on the Roman stage