Titus Andronicus (Bantam Anthology)

by William Shakespeare
edited by David Bevington
anthologized in Three Classical Tragedies: Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus
(New York: Bantam Classics, 1988)
Paperback, 139 Pages, Drama
ISBN: 9780553212846, US$4.95

ABCD Rating: ACQUIRE

Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine.
(Act III, Scene i, Lines 53-56)

From the Cover: This, Shakespeare’s earliest tragedy, is also his bloodiest and most horror-filled. A Roman general to appease the spirit of his dead son, sacrifices the son of a captive Goth queen—and sets in motion a remorseless cycle of revenge and counterrevenge. The play’s vivid spectacle of violence stuns audiences with rape, murder, mutilation, and unmitigated cruelty.

My Review: So, this past Spring Quarter I took a seminar class titled “Shakespeare and Music.” It was an interesting course, to say the least, and it really has made me rethink the way I approach the Shakespearean play and the different voices, tones, and musicality in the various plays.

For my final paper, I decided to approach Julie Taymor’s 1999 adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Titus (starring Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming). I discussed the Bakhtinian Carnivalesque aspects of the play and how it then resists a traditional reading and rather than reaffirming any sort of social norms or values Taymor’s adaptation tears those norms and values down.

In addition to watching Taymor’s film over and over again (which I do not recommend, by the way, it is a really emotionally draining film to watch) I went back to Shakespeare’s original text so I would have some sort of basis of comparison (it has been decades since I last read Titus Andronicus). Now, all other interpretations aside Titus is a fascinating play, a real anomaly in Shakespeare’s work, which is probably why it has such a contested place in the Shakespearean canon with some scholars questioning its authenticity. There is talk that perhaps it is a play not by William Shakespeare but rather by Christopher Marlowe or Thomas Kyd, which given Faustus and The Spanish Tragedy, it is understandable, perhaps, where that sentiment comes from.

Yet, whether or not it is a Shakespearean play is immaterial, though I happen to believe that it is a Shakespeare play … many of the same themes that he deals with in later plays are here in Titus, undeveloped and a little ham-handed it is true, but this is one of Shakespeare’s firsts … his first truly popular play in fact and that fact, given the Elizabethan love of the sensational and their relationship to revenge and justice it is no wonder that Titus Andronicus did as well as it did during the Early Modern Period.

This play is, perhaps, best known for its extreme violence (including, but not limited to, human sacrifice, dismemberment, rape, cutting out of a tongue, beheadings, murder, assassination, and—most famously—cannibalism) and is often called Shakespeare’s “Quentin Tarantino Play” or described as Shakespeare “Channeling Brian De Palma” and yet those are too trite an explanation for such a complex play, and complex it really is. Because, who says revenge is a dish best served cold? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

As with Shakespeare’s more “mature” and later tragedies—Hamlet, Othello, King Lear—Titus Andronicus deals with themes of justice and mercy, senility, the nature of revenge, martial life versus domestic life (and the inability of military men to cope with home life), the cyclical nature of violence, civilization versus barbarity, Self and Other, racism, the nature of evil, the nature of madness, infidelity, the nature of leadership … Titus Andronicus takes all of these themes and runs with them all in a wide and bloody swath (and, admittedly, it is not as sophisticated as say Hamlet or Othello) and in the end, leaves the viewer pondering all of these themes. I will grant that some of the message is lost in the delivery (there are an awful lot of bodies piling up at the end in a very short time) but that does not take away from the essential and visceral nerve that the play is able to hit.

Add to all of that the character of Aaron the Moor who one of the best Shakespearean villains since Iago and the play is worth every bit of emotional capital it takes to watch. And, in spite of this being a book blog, I would recommend you watch Titus Andronicus rather than read … Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be watched, after all, and if you’re going to watch this play then you might as well watch Taymor’s adaptation … the trailer can be seen HERE.