History Main / TitusAndronicus

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[[redirect:Theatre/TitusAndronicus]]

->"Shakespeare as a young writer seems to have gone through a brief QuentinTarantino phase."
-->--''The Reduced Shakespeare Company''

%%No pictures, please. If there was ever a work we didn't need to see pictures of, this is it.

{{William Shakespeare}}'s first and most gruesome, gory, bloody, ''et cetera'', tragedy. As S. Clarke Hulse's says, ''TitusAndronicus'' is a play with "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 lines."

Fun times.

Here's a very basic outline: Titus comes back to Rome with his captives—Tamora, queen of the Goths, her three sons and her lover Aaron the Moor—in tow. He has lost all but four of his twenty-five sons in the war with the Goths. To honour his dead sons' spirits, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son. Tamora, needless to say, ain't happy.

The emperor of Rome, Saturninus, chooses Tamora as his empress, after his brother, Bassianus, runs off with his intended bride Lavinia—-who, by a staggering coinicidence, is Titus' daughter. (Her surviving brothers help her escape and now it's twenty-two sons down, three to go. Does it count if Titus kills them himself?)

You still with me?

Marrying Tamora proves to be a really, REALLY dumb idea. Tamora has Bassianus killed and frames two of Titus' sons for it. Tamora is still not satisfied, [[{{Squick}} so she gets her two surviving sons, Chiron and Demetrius, to gang rape Lavinia.]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice Then to make sure she can't tell anyone who it was who raped her, Tamora's sons cut out Lavinia's tongue and chop off her hands.]] After the two sons (sons of Titus - that's the two innocent ones) are found and incriminated, Aaron says they will be spared if Titus cuts off his own hand. Titus does this, but they are beheaded anyway. Titus is hit hard by their deaths. His last son Lucius is banished from Rome for trying to bust his brothers out of prison before the execution. He joins the Goths and attempts to attack Rome.

With the revelation of Lavinia's rape and horrific mutilation, Titus sinks lower into despair and begins to act strangely. Many people think he's gone mad.

Turns out he was faking so he could go about snooping. When he finds out who is behind it all, he kills Tamora's last two sons, cooks them in a giant pie ''à la'' SweeneyTodd, and serves them to Tamora without her knowing. The last scene is a bloody battle in which Titus kills Tamora and Lavinia ([[MercyKill for her own good]]) before being killed by Saturninus, at which point Lucius promptly commits regicide. Only four major characters remain alive, one of whom is Lucius, who is then made the new Emperor of Rome, a fair and wise ruler for all.

Oh, and Lucius buries Aaron up to his neck and lets him starve to death. (It [[CompleteMonster was]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil deserved]], however.) [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids Why aren't they teaching more Shakespeare in schools?]]

The play was [[TheMovie made into a movie]] by JulieTaymor. It's [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs even]] [[RuleOfSymbolism crazier]].

In troping terms, Titus Andronicus tried to be {{Cincinnatus}} only for it to backfire spectacularly.

No pictures, please.
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!!Tropes
* AffectionateParody: Some people think that the reason this play was so violent was because Shakespeare was having a go at Marlowe's often gruesome plays.
** Indeed, there are some scholars who argue that Shakespeare wrote ''Titus'' with such an outrageous amount of gore (even for the time period) that he actually [[RefugeInAudacity intended for it to be a comedy]]. See the bit about the knife and the fly if you're skeptical. Noted Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt reworked it into a comedy.
** May be the UrExample of ParodyRetcon.
* AlienLunch: Tamora should consider vegetarianism.
* AnachronismStew: For Ancient Rome, there sure are a lot of Christian references that wouldn't have been around back then. Furthermore, there was no Roman emperor who fought a war against the Goths (who invaded during the declining years of the Empire), and a Tribune (a political office from the era of the Roman Republic) wouldn't have served alongside the emperor.
* AndIMustScream: Lavinia. Much of the play revolves around her attempts to communicate the names of her attackers.
* BaitTheDog: Chiron and Demetrius are just two teenagers until Aaron gives them an idea.
* BreakTheCutie: Break, dismember... not all that different.
* CainAndAbel: Bassianus and Saturninus
* CardCarryingVillain: Aaron
* CastingGag: In the 1999 film adaptation, Titus, the guy who brutally murders a bunch of people and serves their remains as food, was played by [[TheSilenceOfTheLambs Anthony Hopkins]].
* TheChessmaster: Aaron
* ChewingTheScenery: The play lends itself to this, and in the film, some of the actors (Anthony Hopkins, most especially) take advantage of it.
* ChocolateBaby: Tamora and Aaron have one, much to Chiron and Demetrius' displeasure.
* [[ColdBloodedTorture Cold-Blooded Torture]]: The rape and mutilation of Lavinia is not shown onstage, but the way Chiron and Demetrius taunt her about it after the fact is ''horrifying.''
-->'''Demetrius:''' So now go tell, an if thy tongue can speak,
--->Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd thee.
-->'''Chiron:''' Write down thy mind, bewray thy meaning so,
--->An if they stumps will let thee play the scribe.
-->'''Demetrius:''' See, how with signs and tokens she can scrawl.
-->'''Chiron:''' Go home, call for sweet water, wash thy hands.
-->'''Demetrius:''' She hath no tongue to call, nor hands to wash,
--->And so let's leave her to her silent walks.
-->'''Chiron:''' An 'twere my case, I should go hang myself.
-->'''Demetrius:''' If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the cord.
** Torture is also discussed at several points. Oh, and [[spoiler:Aaron being buried up to his neck in the sand and left to die.]]
* CycleOfRevenge: And HOW!
* [[DeadLittleSister Dead Little Daughter]]: At the start of the play, twenty-one of Titus' 25 sons are dead. It's the mutilation of Lavinia, though, that tips him over the edge into madness, angst, and [[HollywoodAtheist atheism]].
* DefiledForever: Lavinia.
* DueToTheDead: In the ''evil'' form.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Aaron loves [[MoralityPet his baby son.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Chiron and Demetrius have no compunctions about raping and dismembering Lavinia or killing Aaron's baby son, but they are still taken aback when Aaron murders the nurse. And Aaron has no compunctions about murdering the nurse (and practically every other misdeed in the play), but he'll also fight to the death to save his son's life.
* EvilMatriarch: Tamora
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: You would have to be blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid not to know how this trope applies.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Lavinia would rather die than be raped by Chiron and Demetrius. Unfortunately for her, Tamora knew it. This was also Titus' excuse for OffingTheOffspring.
* ForTheEvulz: Aaron. "If one good deed in all my life I did / I do repent it from my very soul."
* GenreBlind: Chiron and Demetrius should have known that preventing Lavinia from speaking or writing wouldn't be enough to stop her from accusing them; [[Literature/TheMetamorphoses Io didn't need hands or a tongue to tell her father what had happened to her...]]
* GoodHairEvilHair: in the film, AlanCumming seems to be sporting a Hitler-combover.
* {{Gorn}}: Duh.
* HistoricalFiction: A little bizarre to think of it this way but perfectly true.
* HonorRelatedAbuse: Lavinia's death.
* IAteWhat: So Tamora, about that pie...
* ImAHumanitarian: What ever you do, do NOT ask Titus what the secret ingredient is. You'll regret it.
* KillEmAll: Four people are left alive by the end, and one of them gets killed soon after.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: Titus has to choose between his hand and his sons. He cuts off his hand only to have his sons killed anyway.
* MamaBear: Tamora. She will come after you AND YOUR CHILDREN!
** Titus himself goes back and forth, he [[AbusiveParents kills one son and his daughter]] but goes into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge over his other children.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: The question is settled by the ChocolateBaby.
* MercyKill: Titus' explanation for killing Lavinia.
* MoralityPet: Aaron's son
* NastyParty: The climax.
* NatureAdoresAVirgin: Lavinia is loved by all until she goes for a walk in the woods.
* NotSoDifferent: Titus and Tamora. Both "love" their kids. Both power-hungry. Both willing to kill other people's children in revenge. Both sick nut-jobs. Need I go on?
* OffingTheOffspring: Titus murders both Mutius and Lavinia.
* PapaWolf: Aaron, after his son is born. Of course, since this is Aaron, his plan to protect his son mostly consists of murdering people.
* ParodyRetcon: How most of the modern Shakespeare apologists try to rehabilitate TitusAndronicus without resorting to outright RetCon. May make this the UrExample.
* RapeAndRevenge: Lavinia may no longer be physically capable of killing Chiron and Demetrius herself, but she can sure as hell hold the bowl to catch their blood while her father butchers them.
* RapeAsDrama: Lavinia.
* RevengeByProxy: Tamora ''could'' just kill Titus for sacrificing her son, but she chooses instead to murder Bassianus and subject Lavinia to a FateWorseThanDeath.
* ScaryBlackMan: Aaron is somehow scarier than the other CompleteMonster villains. And he's a Moor.
* SettingUpdate: The 1999 version leaps and bounds through various time periods at the whim of the director.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Quintus and Martius.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Chiron and Demetrius. Quintus and Martius as well, depending on how they're played.
* {{Twincest}}: Chiron and Demetrius in the 1999 film. They also have a lot in common with OedipusRex in terms of how much they love their mother.
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Aaron and Tamora all the way.
* YourMom: [[OlderThanTheyThink Really!]]
-->'''Demetrius:''' Villain, what hast thou done?
-->'''Aaron:''' That which thou canst not undo.
-->'''Chiron:''' Thou hast undone our mother.
-->'''Aaron:''' Villain, I have ''done'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny thy mother.]]
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** And don't even get us ''started'' on the movie.
*** It's mostly just updated to the twentieth century as AlternateHistory -- the cybernetic Roman legionaries doing kung fu probably comes closer to NinjaPirateZombieRobot.
*** Actually, the movie's anachronism stew is very appropriate. Costume and set in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays were mostly modern with a few bits of period or national clothing thrown in for good measure. The movie updates this and mixes Roman styles with modern clothing.

** To be fair, most of his sons died honorably in combat, and the wrongful executions of two of his sons contributed heavily to his madness, as well.

** Or Lavinia.

** Titus doesn't come across as particularly power-hungry, but more driven by his sense of duty. He even passes a chance to be emperor.

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Marrying Tamora proves to be a really, REALLY dumb idea. Tamora has Bassianus killed and frames two of Titus' sons for it. Tamora is still not satisfied, [[{{Squick}} so she gets her two surviving sons, Chiron and Demetrius, to gang rape Lavinia.]] Then to make sure she can't tell anyone who it was who raped her, Tamora's sons cut out Lavinia's tongue and chop off her hands. After the two sons (sons of Titus - that's the two innocent ones) are found and incriminated, Aaron says they will be spared if Titus cuts off his own hand. Titus does this, but they are beheaded anyway. Titus is hit hard by their deaths. His last son Lucius is banished from Rome for trying to bust his brothers out of prison before the execution. He joins the Goths and attempts to attack Rome.

-->'''Aaron:''' Villain, I have ''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean done]]'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny thy mother.]]

-->'''Aaron:''' Villain, I have done thy mother.

Marrying Tamora proves to be a really, REALLY dumb idea. Tamora has Bassianus killed and frames two of Titus' sons for it. Tamora is still not satisfied, so she gets her two surviving sons, Chiron and Demetrius, to gang rape Lavinia. Then to make sure she can't tell anyone who it was who raped her, Tamora's sons cut out Lavinia's tongue and chop off her hands. After the two sons (sons of Titus - that's the two innocent ones) are found and incriminated, Aaron says they will be spared if Titus cuts off his own hand. Titus does this, but they are beheaded anyway. Titus is hit hard by their deaths. His last son Lucius is banished from Rome for trying to bust his brothers out of prison before the execution. He joins the Goths and attempts to attack Rome.

* SettingUpdate: The 1999 version leaps and bounds through various time periods at the whim of the director.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Chiron and Demetrius.

* GenreBlind: Chiron and Demetrius should have known that preventing Lavinia from speaking or writing wouldn't be enough to stop her from accusing them; [[TheMetamorphoses Io didn't need hands or a tongue to tell her father what had happened to her...]]

* EvillyAffable: Aaron is rather snarky and amusing in a [[OrderOfTheStick "evil measured in kilonazis"]] kind of way.

Here's a very basic outline: Titus comes back to Rome with his captives—-Tamora, queen of the Goths, her three sons and her lover Aaron the Moor—-in tow. He has lost all but four of his twenty-five sons in the war with the Goths. To honour his dead sons' spirits, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son. Tamora, needless to say, ain't happy.

* GenreBlind: Chiron and Demetrius should have known that preventing Lavinia from speaking or writing wouldn't be enough to stop her from accusing them; [[TheMetamorphoses Io didn't need hands or a tongue to tell her father what had happened to ''her''...]]

* GenreBlind: Chiron and Demetrius should have known that preventing Lavinia from speaking or writing wouldn't be enough to stop her from accusing them; [[{{Metamorphoses}} Io didn't need hands or a tongue to tell her father what had happened to ''her''...]]

* ForTheEvulz: Aaron. "If one good deed in all my life I did / I do repent it now!"

* [[HonorRelatedAbuse Honor-Related Abuse]]: Lavinia's death.

* [[ImAHumanitarian I'm a Humanitarian]]: What ever you do, do NOT ask Titus what the secret ingredient is. You'll regret it.
* [[KillEmAll Kill 'Em All]]: Four people are left alive by the end, and one of them gets killed soon after.

* NatureAdoresAVirgin: Lavinia is loved by all until she goes for a walk in the woods.
* NightmareFuelUnleaded: Can't sleep. Titus won't eat me. He'll make someone else eat me.

Turns out he was faking so he could go about snooping. When he finds out who is behind it all, he kills Tamora's last two sons, cooks them in a giant pie ''à la'' SweeneyTodd, and serves them to Tamora without her knowing. The last scene is a bloody battle in which Titus kills Tamora and Lavinia ([[AbusiveParents for her own good]]) before being killed by Saturninus, at which point Lucius promptly commits regicide. Only four major characters remain alive, one of whom is Lucius, who is then made the new Emperor of Rome, a fair and wise ruler for all.

* OffingTheOffspring: Titus and Lavinia.

-->Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd thee.

-->An if they stumps will let thee play the scribe.

-->And so let's leave her to her silent walks.