Titus Andronicus (character)

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Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus character
Jean-Michel Moreau's illustration of Titus Andronicus (right) being told by his son Lucius that the tribunes have left, from Act 3, Scene 1; engraved by N. le Mire (1785)
Created byWilliam Shakespeare
Portrayed byAnthony Hopkins and Trevor Peacock among others
In-universe information
FamilySons: Lucius, Quintus, Martius, Mutius
Daughter: Lavinia
Brother: Marcus Andronicus
Nephew: Publius
Grandson: Young Lucius

Titus Andronicus is the main character in William Shakespeare's revenge tragedy of the same name, Titus Andronicus.[1] Titus is introduced as a Roman nobleman and revered general. Prior to the events of the play, he dedicated ten years of service in the war against the Goths, losing 21 sons in the conflict. In the opening act, Titus orders that the son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, be sacrificed according to Roman tradition in order to avenge his dead kin. He is also offered the emperorship, but he declines the honor and bestows it upon his son, Saturninus. When Saturninus is denied the ability to pick his first choice of empress, Lavinia, he chooses to wed Tamora. Throughout the rest of the play, Titus and Tamora remain locked in a battle of brutal revenge. The play thus descends into moral chaos as characters perpetrate or find themselves victims of various egregious offenses, including rape, mutilation, and murder.[1]

Comparisons[edit]

It has been suggested that Andronicus comes from Andronikos I Komnenos, a 12th-century Byzantine emperor, who shared Titus' proclivity for shooting arrows with messages attached.[2] When Anthony Hopkins played a stylized version of the character in the 1999 film Titus, he described the character as a combination of King Lear, Barney and Hannibal Lecter.[3] Although Titus Andronicus is the main character, some productions have adapted the play to be seen through the character of his grandson, Young Lucius.[4]

Role in play[edit]

Further information: Titus Andronicus § Synopsis

The play begins with Titus returning home after many years at war with the Goths, bringing with him the remaining four of his twenty-five sons. Titus is selected by the people of Rome to be the new emperor, but refuses this offer due to his old age. In his place, he chooses the former emperor's eldest son, Saturninus. By the ceremonial sacrifice of his most noble captive, Alarbus–the eldest son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths–Titus unknowingly sparks off a series of events that are motivated by the desire for revenge. Throughout the play, Titus seeks revenge on Tamora for injustices against his family while simultaneously being the target of Tamora's own quest for revenge. Titus murders five people during the play, including one of his sons and his daughter. Displaying strict adherence to Roman law, he murders his son, Mutius, for defying his order for Lavinia to marry the new emperor Saturninus. The second act of filicide occurs at the end of the play, when Titus murders Lavinia so that she will not have to live with the shame of having been raped and mutilated on Tamora's orders by her sons Chiron and Demetrius. In Titus' final act of revenge upon Tamora he kills Chiron and Demetrius and uses their blood and bones as the ingredients of a pie. "Let me go grind their bones to powder small, / And with this hateful liquor temper it, / And in that paste let their vile heads be baked" (5.3.197–199).[5] Titus serves this pie to Tamora before killing her. As is customary in a Shakespearean tragedy and as a Senecan hero, Titus Andronicus also dies in the end, killed by Saturninus. Saturninus is then killed by Titus' last remaining son, Lucius, bringing to an end the cycle of revenge that has prolonged the play.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Shakespeare, William (March 16, 1995). Bate, Jonathan (ed.). Titus Andronicus: Third Series. Bloomsbury Publishing. doi:10.5040/9781408160121.00000031. ISBN 978-1-4081-6012-1.
  2. ^ Stoll, Elmer Edgar, ed. (1922). The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, Volume 30. The MacMillan Company. p. xvi. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  3. ^ Holden, Stephen (December 24, 1999). "Titus (1999): Film Review; It's a Sort of Family Dinner, Your Majesty". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  4. ^ "Titus Andronicus". British Universities Film & Video Council. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  5. ^ "Titus Andronicus (full text)". MIT.edu. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  6. ^ "Titus Andronicus: Characters". Spark Notes. Retrieved April 25, 2014.

External links[edit]

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