Titus Andronicus
Shakespeare's earliest tragedy — and one of his most violent — Titus Andronicus is a revenge play set in imperial Rome, featuring rape, mutilation, cannibalism, and wholesale slaughter. Long dismissed as crude juvenilia, it is now recognized as a sophisticated exploration of revenge, civilization, and barbarity.
At a Glance
- Genre: Tragedy (Revenge Tragedy)
- Approximate date: c. 1593–1594
- Setting: Rome and the surrounding countryside
- Source: Possibly a lost prose tale; Ovid's Metamorphoses (Philomela); Seneca
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| TITUS ANDRONICUS | Roman general; proud; loses everything to revenge |
| MARCUS ANDRONICUS | Tribune; Titus's brother; a moderating voice |
| LAVINIA | Titus's daughter; raped and mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius |
| LUCIUS | Titus's son; exiled; returns with Gothic army; becomes emperor |
| QUINTUS | Son to Titus; executed |
| MARTIUS | Son to Titus; executed |
| MUTIUS | Son to Titus; killed by Titus himself |
| YOUNG LUCIUS | Titus's grandson |
| PUBLIUS | Son to Marcus |
| SEMPRONIUS, CAIUS, VALENTINE | Titus's kinsmen |
| AEMILIUS | Roman noble |
| SATURNINUS | Elected emperor; unstable; marries Tamora |
| BASSIANUS | Saturninus's brother; loves Lavinia; killed by Chiron and Demetrius |
| TAMORA | Queen of the Goths; Titus's prisoner; becomes empress; drives revenge |
| AARON | A Moor; Tamora's lover; Machiavellian villain; father of Tamora's child |
| ALARBUS | Tamora's eldest son; sacrificed by Titus at the play's opening |
| DEMETRIUS | Tamora's son; rapes and mutilates Lavinia |
| CHIRON | Tamora's son; rapes and mutilates Lavinia |
| A NURSE | Who brings Aaron's black child |
| A CLOWN | Unwitting messenger; executed |
Plot Summary
Act I: Titus Andronicus returns to Rome victorious over the Goths, bringing Tamora, her sons, and her lover Aaron as prisoners. He sacrifices Tamora's eldest son Alarbus to satisfy his dead sons' shades. Saturninus is chosen emperor and selects Lavinia as his empress; Titus agrees. But Saturninus then abruptly chooses Tamora instead. Titus's son Mutius, trying to let Lavinia escape with Bassianus, is killed by Titus himself. Saturninus is angered but reconciled by Tamora's secret counsel.
Act II: In the forest during a hunt, Aaron engineers the murder of Bassianus by Demetrius and Chiron. Lavinia is raped by the two brothers; her tongue is cut out and her hands cut off so she cannot identify her attackers (echoing Ovid's Philomela). Two of Titus's sons are framed for Bassianus's murder by a forged letter; they are condemned.
Act III: Titus's pleas for his sons' lives are ignored. Marcus brings the mutilated Lavinia. Aaron tricks Titus into cutting off his own hand, promising it will save his sons — then sends back the hand along with his sons' heads. Titus is broken by grief and begins to plan revenge.
Act IV: Lavinia (holding a stick in her mouth, guiding it with her stumps) spells out "Stuprum—Chiron—Demetrius" in the sand, naming her attackers. Titus sends the brothers weapons wrapped in cryptic messages; Aaron decodes them and tells Tamora. Titus's grandson Young Lucius delivers messages to the brothers. Aaron's black child by Tamora is born; Aaron kills the nurse to silence her and flees with the child.
Act V: Aaron is captured; he confesses his crimes without remorse ("if one good deed in all my life I did, / I do repent it from my very soul"). Tamora, disguised as Revenge, visits Titus with her sons disguised as Rapine and Murder. Titus sees through the disguise but plays along — then captures Chiron and Demetrius. He kills them, bakes them into pies, and serves them to Tamora and Saturninus at a banquet. He kills Lavinia (to end her shame), reveals the pie, kills Tamora; Saturninus kills Titus; Lucius kills Saturninus. The cycle of violence ends. Lucius is elected the new emperor. Aaron is buried up to his chest and starved to death.
Key Themes
- Civilization vs. barbarism — who is truly barbaric: the Romans or the Goths?
- Revenge's logic — each atrocity provokes a greater counter-atrocity
- The body in pieces — Lavinia's body becomes the site of political violence
- Parental love and loss — Titus's reduction from triumphant general to grief-maddened father
- Race and otherness — Aaron is one of Shakespeare's most complex Black characters
Notable Quotations
"If one good deed in all my life I did, / I do repent it from my very soul." *(Aaron, V.iii)*
"She is a woman, therefore may be wooed; / She is a woman, therefore may be won." *(Demetrius, II.i)*
LibriVox Recording
Titus Andronicus audiobook on LibriVox — Free public domain recording. (Multiple versions available)