Aaron the Moor, Demetrius, Chiron, and a Nurse with a Child (Act IV, Scene 2)

Titus Andronicus

William Shakespearec. 1592
Influence12th pct
Popularity14th pct
Shakespeare

Read this if you…

  • want an unhinged horrific plot

Skip this if you…

  • aren't willing to go slow, read notes, look up analyses of famous passages (only way to "get" shakespeare)
  • foolishly think shakespeare is overrated
  • don't like horrible gore and tragedy
  • haven't read all the classic tragedies (this one is near the bottom)

The Groblé Take

Lots of murders makes it a quick fun read, but nothing is that clever. So much death though which is fun

Connections

The lineage through Titus Andronicus

Built Onwhat came beforeTitus AndronicusMetamorphosesThe Aeneid

  • Metamorphoses by Ovid. Titus Andronicus built on it. - *Titus Andronicus* is Ovid's Philomela story staged at full volume — the *Metamorphoses* is the book the play hands its audience - The rapists Chiron and Demetrius take Tereus as their conscious model, cutting out Lavinia's tongue *and* her hands so she can't weave the truth - Read the Philomela myth (Book VI) first and the play's whole machinery of mutilation and revenge clicks into place
  • The Aeneid by Virgil. Titus Andronicus built on it. - 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
See the full map
Gallery

Depicted in Art

Aaron holds Tamora's newborn child against his chest, dagger drawn, facing down Chiron and Demetrius and the nurse who would have killed the infant.

Thomas Kirk, 1796

Lavinia kneels imploring at Tamora's feet as Chiron and Demetrius look on, ready to drag her into the woods.

Anker Smith (after Samuel Woodforde), 1793

Frontispiece illustration accompanying the play in Rowe's 1709 Works of Shakespeare — the play's first engraved scene in any edition.

Nicholas Rowe edition (anonymous), 1709

Engraving depicting Tamora's cruelty to Lavinia from the Boydell-tradition reproduction in the 'Album dramatique' of Shakespeare scenes.

Unknown

Tamora kneels pleading before Titus while her bound sons Chiron and Demetrius crouch behind her; Aaron stands armed at the right, pointing toward them.

Henry Peacham, 1595

Tamora restrains Lavinia in the woods as Chiron and Demetrius close in around them.

Edward Smith, 1843

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick$9.99$9.31

Folger Shakespeare Library

2005

Folger's the readable one. Text on one page, notes on the facing page, written in plain English instead of textbook-speak. Catches every word and reference you'd otherwise google, without breaking the scene to do it.

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Notable Quotes

I have done a thousand dreadful things as willingly as one would kill a fly.

Aaron, Titus Andronicus
All 15 quotes, with sources →
Adaptations

Screen & Stage

Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)

AcclaimPraised by 3 notable voices
  • Brian Cox, Emmy Award-winning actor, b. 1946: "The greatest stage performance I've ever given."
  • Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare scholar & Arden editor, b. 1958: "The Elizabethans were not afraid to confront violence in ways that are simultaneously shocking and playful."
  • Julie Taymor, Tony Award-winning theatre & film director, b. 1952: "The most relevant of Shakespeare's plays for the modern era … it reeks of now."

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