52
T
itus Andronicus is
perhaps best known for
its extreme violence. It
features at least five stabbings,
two throat slittings, and one hand
amputation—and this is only the
violence that happens onstage. It
does not include the rape and
mutilation of Lavinia.
The play was probably written
in collaboration with George Peele,
who is thought to be responsible
mainly for the first act. It was
undoubtedly influenced by
theatrical fashion, and may have
recalled Peele’s The Battle of
Alcazar (c.1591), in which severed
heads appear in a banquet, or the
hand-chopping scene in Selimus
(c.1592), by Robert Greene and
Thomas Lodge. The play’s violence
has been called gratuitous—to the
extent that critics used to deny that
Shakespeare could have written it.
However, the violence has deeper
political and cultural meanings.TITUS ANDRONICUS
Escalating violence
Perhaps most horrifying is the
moment when Tamora realizes that
she has consumed the flesh of her
own children, but cannibalism is
an idea that resonates throughout
the play. One of the challenges of
revenge tragedy is how to exceed
the initial crime. Titus’s main
act of revenge against Tamora
for destroying his family will
be murder. Why should he also
require that she devour her sons?
One explanation is his need
to punish her sexual appetite by
turning it into a kind of monstrous
feeding, “bid[ding] that strumpet,
your unhallowed dam, / Like to the
earth swallow her own increase”
(5.2.190–191). But the play is also
pervaded by a kind of maternal
dread, where the mother is an
all-consuming figure, against
whom the male child must
struggle to define himself. This
fear emerges in some unlikely
places. For example, the pit into
which Martius and Quintus fall
(with dead Bassianus at the
bottom) is hailed: “What subtle hole
is this, / Whose mouth is covered
with rude-growing briers / UponIN CONTEXT
THEMES
Revenge, fatherhood,
motherhood, lust, madnessSETTING
Late Imperial RomeSOURCES
No direct sources are known,
but Shakespeare may have
drawn on the following:
8 CE Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
A copy of the poem is used
on stage in the play.1st century CE Thyestes, a
gory revenge story by Roman
playwright Seneca.13th century Gesta
Romanorum, an anonymous
collection of fictionalized
Roman legends and myths.LEGACY
1594 The first recorded
performance is in January,
at the Rose Theatre, London.
The play appears in print in
February of that year.1850s American actor
Ira Aldridge plays Aaron in
a heavily adapted version. It is
the only 19th-century revival.1923 The unexpurgated
version of the play is staged
at the Old Vic, London, for
the first time in 250 years.
1987 Deborah Warner’s uncut
production for the Royal
Shakespeare Company brings
out the full horror of the play.1999 American director
Julie Taymor casts Anthony
Hopkins as Titus in a film
adaptation of the play.Demetrius and Chiron are soon
to be baked into pie in this 2006
production of Titus Andronicus at
the Globe Theatre, London, with
Douglas Hodge in the lead role.