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    Titus Andronicus
    Titus Andronicus
    Titus Andronicus
    Ebook125 pages1 hour

    Titus Andronicus

    By William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateJan 1, 1594
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest playwright the world has seen. He produced an astonishing amount of work; 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 5 poems. He died on 23rd April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.

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    Reviews for Titus Andronicus

    3.5/5

    519 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      It may not say much for me as a person, but this is my absolute favorite Shakespearian play. I saw it performed at The Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta, and I own the Julie Taymor film version and I still fall in love with it every time. Which is disturbing if you've read it or have any idea what it's actually about. So...yeah.
    • 4/5
      This revenge play might not be one of Shakespeare's best crafted plays from a literary perspective, but it has its merits from a theatrical point of view- namely, two of his best villians. In particular, Tamora is for my money Shakespeare's best role for a woman after Lady MacBeth. Of course he can hardly be blamed for not writing more great roles "for women," as he didn't write *anything* for them- there were no actresses and the women would be played by young boys, not seasoned, mature performers. However, from the perspective of a modern woman whose appreciation of a play can be swayed by how much she would want to be in it, it is hard not to read this gore-fest and think how much fun it could be.
    • 4/5
      As the top Roman General, Titus wars with the Goths and captures their queen, Tamora, along with her three warrior sons and her secret lover, Aaron, who is a Moor. Bringing them to Rome, the eldest of the sons is ritually and brutally killed, while Tamora is forced to marry the soon-to-be Emperor. The Romans assume the Goths are now resigned to become Roman subjects, but Tamora, her sons and Aaron set about repaying Titus and Rome.Not only the most violent and bloody of Shakespeare's plays, this is the most violent play I've ever come across, period. Beheadings, limbs chopped off, rape, tongues cut out... it's a bloodbath.
    • 3/5
      It had been stopping me from reading Shakespeare for over a year now. I was at Titus Andronicus, and I had heard such horrible things about it. Last night I plunged in, and although it's no Hamlet, I found it mostly readable. In fact, it seemed very much like the Greek plays I've been reading, only with more words and less Chorus. I don't really have any inclination to watch this one performed, but honestly, I found all the "hand" jokes amusing.I haven't read much about this work, the tiny intro at the front of the book I'm reading said it was atrocious and many refused to believe that Shakespeare had written it. I wouldn't know, but I'm thinking if he did, it was as a challenge, or in the depths of a writer's block, or he was coerced to it. Still, the drama was perfectly understandable in a Greek tragedy kind of way. A mother who has been taken captive is forced to have her first-born killed in front of her, his limbs chopped off, entrails spilled, and then he is consumed by flames in a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Minutes later she is effectively told to cheer up and wipe that gloomy look off her face because the new emperor wants to marry her! Yeah, I'd be plotting some revenge too.
    • 1/5
      A little to gory for my taste. I don't remember where this was, but there was a part where there was about 4 murders in 20 lines.
    • 4/5
      3 stars for the play, 4 stars for the edition. Jonathan Bate is a brilliant scholar, however I'd refrain from giving this edition 5 stars - in spite of his fascinating discussions of methods of staging - because I do think that Bate has a bit of a bias here, seeing the play's issues and textual cruces as largely deliberate, and I don't think this finding is born out by modern scholarship.
    • 3/5
      My godfathers, this is bloody! The cast count at the end is barely a fraction of the beginning. I can imagine actors eyeing up how far they survive rather than a measure of how many lines they get. Titus Andronicus returns to Rome with the Queen of the Goths and her sons as prisoners. He has lost 21 sons in the 10 years at the wars, and his first act is the sacrifice the Queen's eldest son to the gods and honour his own dead. It doesn't really get a lot better from there on in. I listened to this and it was actually really easy to follow because the characters have a habit of announcing themselves by name, so that it's usually pretty clear who our of this predominantly male cast was speaking. The subject matter is so very grim that I can't imagine that this is easy to watch (I barely coped with seeing the King Lear eye scene, this would have been worse). Difficult to rate, it's so terribly violent that it almost becomes cartoonish. I suggest some of the others as better plays and more enjoyable subject matter.
    • 4/5
      The pornography of violence is writ large in this early play by Shakespeare. It was considered too shocking for a Victorian Audience, but was a success in 1592 when it hit the Elizabethan stage. Recent modern revivals have also succeeded which may say more about the 21st century than Shakespeare and the Elizabethans. The amount of violence in the play is listed in the wikipedia article. I lost count of the incidents way before the end: The play is saturated with violence from its opening scene, and violence touches virtually every character; Alarbus is burned alive and has his arms chopped off; Titus stabs his own son to death; Bassianus is murdered and thrown into a pit; Lavinia is brutally raped and has her hands cut off and her tongue cut out; Martius and Quintus are decapitated; a nurse and a midwife are stabbed to death by Aaron; an innocent clown is executed for no apparent reason; Titus kills Chiron and Demetrius and cooks them in a pie, which he then feeds to their mother. Then, in the final scene, in the space of a few lines, Titus kills in succession Lavinia and Tamora, and is then immediately killed by Saturninus, who is in turn immediately killed by Lucius. Aaron is then buried up to his neck and left to starve to death in the open air and Tamora's body is thrown to the wild beasts outside the city. As S. Clark Hulse points out, "it has 14 killings, 9 of them on stage, 6 severed members, 1 rape (or 2 or 3 depending on how you count), 1 live burial, 1 case of insanity, and 1 of cannibalism – an average of 5.2 atrocities per act, or one for every 97 linesThis run down does not reveal the whole picture however, because it is Shakespeare's depiction of his characters seeming to revel in the violence that is most shocking for audiences and readers of the play. This is Marcus coming across his sister Lavinia in a forest who has just been raped by two Goths and has had her hands cut off and her tongue cut out:Why dost not speak to me?    Alas, a crimson river of warm blood,    Like to a bubbling fountain stirr'd with wind,    Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips,    Coming and going with thy honey breath.    But sure some Tereus hath deflowered thee,    And, lest thou shouldst detect him, cut thy tongue.    Ah, now thou turn'st away thy face for shame!    And notwithstanding all this loss of blood-    As from a conduit with three issuing spouts-    Yet do thy cheeks look red as Titan's face    Blushing to be encount'red with a cloud.This is what happens to Aaron at the end of the play:Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him;    There let him stand and rave and cry for food.    If any one relieves or pities him,    For the offence he dies. This is our doom.    Some stay to see him fast'ned in the earth.We only have to wait until line 130 for the first violent act: Lucius has demanded that one of the prisoners be sacrificed to appease the Roman dead and selects the eldest son of the conquered queen Tamora. She pleads with Titus Andronicus for mercy; the first of the characters kneeling in supplication. Her plea is dismissed out of hand and Lucius gives the order: Away with him, and make a fire straight;    And with our swords, upon a pile of wood,    Let's hew his limbs till they be clean consum'd. This is the murder that starts the chain of the murder and revenge cycle.The play is set in Roman times where it could be argued that there was violence and spectacle enough to warrant this graphic rendition. With the amount of action that takes place it is a wonder that Shakespeare can tell a coherent story, but he does and significantly his character have no time to develop, the only soliloquy's are by the arch villain Aaron. It is a story of power and vengeance. Titus Andronicus has returned to Rome from a ten year campaign against the barbarian goths. His return coincides with the election of a new Roman emperor. Saturninus claims the throne as the eldest son of the dead emperor, but his brother Bassianus also lays claim: the people favour Titus, but he declines saying he is too old and too weary and supports Saturninus. Lavinia is chosen by Saturninus as empress to unite the two families, but Bassianus seizes her claiming they are already married. Saturninus therefore turns to Tamora who has already sworn vengeance against Titus and his family. Aaron the Moor and lover of Tamora plots to destabilise the regime and instigates two of Tamora's sons to rape and disfigure Lavinia and kill Bassianus. War breaks out between the families as each murder leads to more bloodshed. It can only end when most of the principal characters are dead, but their is no moral to this story, the violence continues to the end of the play and the audience is left with the impression that violence is endemic. Shakespeare was following a tradition of earlier successes in the theatre: Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Christopher Marlowe's the Jew of Malta were both revenge tragedy's, but Shakespeare took this theme and ran with it further into the darkness and darkness is the overall impression that I got from this play. The BBC production starring Trevor Peacock as Titus stays true to the text and there is no light at all in the 2 and a half hours playing time. It does show how well the play can be made to work. An evening in the theatre with this play cannot fail to depress the viewer. No thoughts of better times ahead, no optimism, just blackness piled on blackness. Perhaps it was a play of its time with the theatres on the verge of being closed due to the plague. It does not make for cheerful viewing during the covid 19 epidemic. It is a powerful unrelenting play and I can understand why it might be well thought of by some, but for me at this moment in time I could quite cheerfully pass it by 4 stars, but 5 stars for the BBC film.
    • 3/5
      Ever wish Shakespeare had written something incredibly dark and violent? Well lucky you, he did! In Titus Andonicus fans of the Bard can get their Quentin Tarantino fix in old English. This is one of Shakespeare’s first tragedies and by far one of the most violent. See if you can follow me as I give a quick and wildly confusing rundown of the plot...A Roman general, Titus, is in a perpetual battle of revenge with Tamora, Queen of the Goths. Things escalate throughout the play, building to a disturbing pinnacle of violence. Titus is appointed the new Roman Emperor but he turns the throne down, supporting Saturninus instead. He offers his daughter Lavinia to Saturnius, even though she’s already engaged to Bassianus, Saturnius’ brother. Titus sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son after taking her and her sons prisoner, which further instigates her wrath. In a surprise move Saturninus marries Tamora and Titus is furious. Tamora’s living sons, Demetrius and Chiron, kidnap and rape Titus’ daughter Lavinia. When they’re done they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands. You can see why this one isn’t performed a lot. They also kill her original betrothed, Bassianus, which infuriates his brother (the emperor) Saturnius. Titus’ sons Martius and Quintus are framed for the murder and executed by Saturnius. After that there are sliced hands and heads going back and forth in the mail. Let’s not forget Tamora’s lover Aaron, a moor who fathers her child while she is married to Saturnius. He’s a tricky one and causes quite a bit of mayhem. The ultimate disturbing detail that made the play famous comes when Titus to be the Master Chef of Revenge. He kills Tamora’s remaining two sons and then uses their blood and bones to make her a fancy dinner. He then feeds it to her at a feast before revealing his secret ingredients. Gag. Then the bloody meal concludes with just about every main character being killed.BOTTOM LINE: Cue Debbie Downer’s sad trombone noise, "wah waaah." I can’t say this is my favorite Shakespearean play, but I’m glad to know what all the fuss was about. Unlike his later tragedies, this one is missing the crucial element of emotional grounding. While we’re horrified by what happens to the characters we aren’t necessarily invested in them, which lessens the impact. Ultimately we are reminded that revenge, just like jealousy in Othello, destroys everyone in its path.  
    • 4/5
      I know it's not his best, and it's not as much fun as Tamburlaine, the Marlowe play Shakespeare was ripping off, but I have a soft spot for it.
    • 4/5
      Incredibly bloody, even by modern standards.
    • 3/5
      My reaction to much of this book was, "Wow, this is Shakespeare?" "Titus Andronicus" is simply brutal... and definitely the most violent play of Shakespeare's that I've ever read. There is a hardly a scene that goes by that someone isn't murdered, raped or dismembered. The play, at its heart, is a tale of revenue in its most violent form.As such, this isn't one of my favorite plays... there isn't much subtle or playful here. But it also managed to keep my attention, as I wondered how Shakespeare was going to top the prior scene with something even more horrible. Overall, I found it interesting and much darker than a typical Shakespearean tragedy.
    • 4/5
      I recently sat down with Titus as part of my undergraduate degree and found it thoroughly enjoyable in a gruesome kind of a way. Shakespeare's understanding of how drama works is in full evidence, and although it all smacks a bit of Marlowe's work, the young Shakespeare still produced a play that is shocking and dark, but that also has moments of odd compassion. It reminded me of humanitie's unfortunate habit of destroying itself in the name of perpetual concepts like love, honor, and dignity. Violence is part of the human condition, and that is why I think the play still speaks to us today.
    • 3/5
      I had tried delving into the Divine Comedy, but it just wasn't doing it for me after the first handful of cantos in Inferno. "I need something more violent right now," thought I. So I decided to read Titus, which I somehow never read (though I heart the movie intensely). Dang! Why isn't Lavinia as held up as Ophelia? She doesn't even have her own little Wikipedia page. I always thought of Ophelia as kind of a bleeding heart, and here is Lavinia, fighting to get her family to comprehend her, overcoming her wounds to see her rapists punished and then suiciding by father (or whatever you call it, despite how Titus puts it, she's willing and unable to commit the act herself) once revenge is carried out.This is now in my top three Shakespeare plays (Richard III and Julius Caesar being the others). It's got some weird shit going on, if you don't mind the colloquial vagueness of that. It was nice reading ol' Shakey again, I haven't really delved into his stuff since that advanced class years ago sort of wore me out on it.
    • 3/5
      A violent and bloody tragedy, that may well have been a dark comedy in its time.
    • 4/5
      This revenge play might not be one of Shakespeare's best crafted plays from a literary perspective, but it has its merits from a theatrical point of view- namely, two of his best villians. In particular, Tamora is for my money Shakespeare's best role for a woman after Lady MacBeth. Of course he can hardly be blamed for not writing more great roles "for women," as he didn't write *anything* for them- there were no actresses and the women would be played by young boys, not seasoned, mature performers. However, from the perspective of a modern woman whose appreciation of a play can be swayed by how much she would want to be in it, it is hard not to read this gore-fest and think how much fun it could be.
    • 5/5
      A gruesome look at the Roman conquest of the Goths. Revenge, crueltly, loyalty-it's all considered in this early Shakespeare play. It is (as with all his work) best viewed, too-the Anthony Hopkins movie version, Titus, is amazing. Have the play at hand to read, because sometimes it helps.

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