Tammy’s Reviews > Titus Andronicus > Status Update

Well that was a wild ride. I have to ponder it some more.

AV SII Horror show almost complete. Shakespeare to Quentin Tarantino, “Hold my ale.” The plans of Titus are Dantesque.

AV SI Somehow Lucius has managed to win the favor of the Goths. They feared his father but then maybe that is what won their respect after their queen abandoned them. For all they know, she wants to live the high life in Rome. Aaron is pure evil. He’s like the serial killer who coldly tells all his brutal deeds without flinching. He may seem like the devil, except that the devil believes in God but he doesn’t.

AIV SIV I think I see it, thank you, Mr. Tillyard. Titus ignored the will of the people. Had he accepted their election, most likely there would have been peace. When he rejected the call, it put Saturnus in place who allied himself with the Goths and that first lead to destruction on a personal level, but is now spilling out into the public level. There is no justice, not even for commoners. Genius.

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!

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.