Lucius (Titus Andronicus)

Play

Titus Andronicus

Summary

Lucius is Titus's eldest son — the Andronicus who survives and ultimately triumphs. Banished from Rome early in the play, he raises a Goth army and returns to the city as an avenging force at the same time that Titus's own revenge is coming to its terrible conclusion. After the final banquet's mass slaughter, Lucius kills the Emperor Saturninus, delivers Aaron to justice, and is proclaimed the new Emperor of Rome — the one figure capable of restoring order after the catastrophe. His role as witness to his family's suffering and then as agent of its vindication gives the play its only note of institutional survival.

Notable Quotations

"Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome, / And bring our emperor gently in thy hand." *(5.3)*

"Set him breast-deep in earth and famish him; / There let him stand and rave and cry for food." *(5.3 — sentencing Aaron)*

Cross-references