Tamora
Play
Summary
Tamora is the Queen of the Goths, captured and brought to Rome as Titus's prisoner, whose eldest son Alarbus is ritually sacrificed over her passionate pleas for mercy. From this originating injustice flows her determination to destroy Titus entirely — a vendetta prosecuted with cold brilliance once she becomes Empress of Rome by marrying the weak Saturninus. She directs her sons Chiron and Demetrius to ravish and mutilate Lavinia, orchestrates the murder of Titus's sons, and coolly manipulates Saturninus against the Andronicus family throughout. Her downfall comes at Titus's terrible banquet, where she unknowingly eats a pie made from her own sons before Titus kills her.
Notable Quotations
"Stay, Roman brethren! Gracious conqueror, / Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, / A mother's tears in passion for her son." *(1.1)*
"Now will I be revenged on this accursed race; / Let it not Tamora entreat your grace." *(2.3)*
Cross-references
- Titus Andronicus — the play
- Tragedies
- character_titus — her enemy and the object of her revenge
- character_aaron — her Moorish lover and co-conspirator
- character_saturninus — the emperor she manipulates from within