Status Updates From Tytus Andronikus

AIV SIII On the one hand Titus appears to be mad—grief has made him mad. There is no other hand… He is seeking justice in very strange ways, shooting messages into heaven with arrows and imagining that the gods receive them. Then he ropes in a commoner. He also realizes that ignoring the election of the people created this mess. It looks like the chaos in the rulers is rolling downhill to the people.

AIV SIII On the one hand Titus appears to be mad—grief has made him mad. There is no other hand… He is seeking justice in very strange ways, shooting messages into heaven with arrows and imagining that the gods receive them. Then he ropes in a commoner. He also realizes that ignoring the election of the people created this mess. It looks like the chaos in the rulers is rolling downhill to the people.

AIV SII Another one bites the dust. Aaron is the devil and his plan is diabolically clever. How appalling that Chiron blushes over the situation of his half-brother but thinks nothing of what he did on the hunt.

AIV SI Hmmmm Aaron is the leopard, Tamora is the she-wolf, and maybe Saturnus is the lion. That’s possible. How cool that myth and the written word revealed the truth? At least nobody was murdered in this scene. Not even a fly!

AIII SII Titus is consumed with revenge. He has become revenge.

The only light so far is Lavinia, Marcus, and Lucius. Marcus and Lucius both offer their hand. Lucius tries to talk sense into his father. He has such a heart for others--he sees Lavinia’s pain and asks his father to calm down for her sake. He offers to wipe her cheeks. He even says, “Let me redeem my brothers from death.”

AIII SI I’m having flashbacks of The Last Battle. “Make it stop! The play is truly ruled by Saturn--sorrow, doom, death, swift judgment, often executed by sword. This play feels like the end of an age of Rome. Titus, the general, poured himself out for his country and he questions why he fought. He is blind to his role--his hard heart started the chaos and he has become Tamora with his vow of revenge.

AII SIV Marcus reaction is so amazing. After all the horrors, the soul needs poetry.

Apparently, gory Senecan tragedies were all the rage. These are the people who enjoyed bear baiting and went to beheadings. I can’t help if young Shakespeare pushed everyone into a bloody pit to see if they’d had enough.

AII SIII “My compassionate heart will not permit mine eyes once to behold the thing whereat it trembles by surmise.” We see daily evidence in the news that closing one’s eyes to evil does not make it go away. I’m getting an Inferno vibe here: Tamora is the she-wolf and Aaron is the leopard and horrors are seen in a pit. This play is not for the faint of heart.

AII SII Titus does not heed his dreams (seeds of Julius Caesar) and he sees everything upside down: bright morning, fragrant fields, green woods. The last two lines of the scene sound innocent but the previous scene has shown there is a much darker meaning. Demetrius (son of Tamora) says to his brother Chiron, “Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,
But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.”

Whew. I can do this. AII SI Aaron, Tamora’s boy toy, likes that she has been elevated to a goddess (maybe as a reflection on him). He takes delight in being a cuckold and in goading her sons into doing unthinkable things. Imagery of hunting and the woods (“shadow’d from heaven’s eye”). The dark deeds he imagines can only happen in the woods.

TA is focused on religion, honor and keeping peace but he is not thinking through the consequences of actions. He has spent so much time in battle that his decisions are rash.

On the Saturn front, we see a character named Saturnus, rash judgements, swords, thrones, sorrow, death, etc. They seek a golden age of peace by wearing a mask but, since nothing has been solved, there’s going to be a disaster.

Act I is all about show. On the surface, the talk is of peace and reconciliation but everyone seems to be nursing grudges and ready to lash out when the time is right. The reader gets whiplash from all the sudden changes--TA is chosen emperor, now he’s not; Laviinia is emperess, now she’s not; Saturnius is thankful to TA, now he disdains him. There is a show of reconciliation but it’s just a bandaid.

Everyone expects peace but troubling events are papered over in the name of the peace. Tamora clearly has a reason to hate Titus. Bassianus has reason to hate his brother so he takes off with Lavinia. Titus kills his own son (like Lucius Junius Brutus) and feels dishonored when Saturnius refjuses Lavinia and choses a Goth (Tamora) instead. The new emperor tries to make himself big by making Titus look small.

The opening highlights tradition (Saturnius), virtue (Bassianus), and bloody sacrifice (Titus--he sacrificed 21 sons in the cause). The people choose that later. Tamora’s speech “Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods? Draw near them then in being merciful: sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge” are seeds of the quality of mercy speech. Titus appeals to religion and lets his son Lucius hack up Tamora’s eldest.

AI SI It’s a long scene. Several things in the setup are surprising. Events happen quickly. Saturnius and Bassianus take the news of the election of Titus so easily, not even an aside to tell us what they are really thinking. Sons of an emperor have more of a sense of entitlement. I’ve never heard of the Roman custom so perhaps Shakespeare uses it to highlight Rome’s thirst for blood in war and entertainment.

I started this in February 2020 and put it away after the first act. I’m not looking forward to this one. I’ll be reading this with my eyes closed. LOL

Chiron: "Thou hast undone our mother"

Aaron: "Villain, I have done thy mother"

I discovered this was the play with the original "Your mom" joke.