chapter three
“Incorporate in Rome”
Titus Andronicusand the Consequence of Conquest
At the end ofTitus Andronicus( 1593 – 94 ), after most members of the ruling
Roman and Gothic families have been mutilated, killed, or eaten, a Roman
calls for the state to “give sentence” on the Moor Aaron, an “execrable wretch /
That hath been breeder of these dire events” ( 5. 3. 176 – 77 ). Lucius, now the
head of state, takes the lead, ordering:
Set him breast-deep in earth and famish him;
There let him stand and rave and cry for food.
If anyone relieves or pities him,
For the offense he dies. This is our doom;
Some stay to see him fastened in the earth. ( 5. 3. 178 – 82 )This final sentence accentuates the Moor’s depravity. In contrast to the hon-
ored Andronici, whose ceremonial interment in the family tomb opens the
play, Aaron is “fastened in the earth” as a subject unworthy of food, pity, and
the ultimate sign of honor and respect in this play, due burial.^1
Here, then, is the apparent institution of an absolute cultural discrimina-
tion, a state-authorized excoriation of the Moor as Other—theOther to outdo
and undo all others. Lucius will insist that the body of the “ravenous” and
“beastly” Gothic queen, Tamora, be “throw[n] forth to beasts and birds to prey,”
she like Aaron committed to the wild, deprived of the “funeral rite,” “mourn-
ing weed,” and “mournful bell” that seem to mark civilized society ( 5. 3. 194 – 98 ).