Titus Andronicus

Shakespeare opens the play in media res with a squabble over the succession, a relatively unimportant plot point that is quickly resolved. However, this argument establishes the setting, Rome, at a politically dangerous moment of power transfer, which introduces the play’s thematic interest in Order Versus Chaos. Beginning with a political scene also establishes the connection between the personal and the political, as these characters are brothers. Shakespeare includes references to the popular Early Modern image of the “body politic” as Marcus asks Titus to “set a head on headless Rome” (1.1.189), thus establishing the parallel between the individual violence enacted on human bodies throughout the play and civic disorder. This foreshadows that the personal revenge quests pursued later in the play fall along the same lines as the 10-year war that has just happened (Roman versus Goth), illustrating the violence of division and enmity.

Saturninus’s and Bassianus’s opening speeches recall Roman oratory traditions and reference Rome’s political greatness, invoking “Romans, friends, followers” and “royal Rome” (1.1.9,11). However, the speeches are short and end abruptly, threatening the disintegration of words into violence, as each encourages their armed followers to fight: Rome is on the brink of transitioning into chaos, again foreshadowing the rest of the play. Shakespeare further underlines the knife-edge nature of this society through Titus’s observation that his troupe of dead sons is “secure from world chances […] here lurks no treason” (1.1.155-156). These characters inhabit a world where only death frees them from danger.

This chaos breaks out as the main plot begins, initiating a vicious cycle of revenge. Titus instigates this by endorsing a prisoner’s execution. Tamora suggests that his victories have made him proud, a common tragic flaw in Early Modern tragic protagonists: She asks “Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?” (1.1.120). She suggests that his elevated status and pride have deprived him of humanity and a sense of restraint. In this moment, Shakespeare challenges The Paradigm of “Civilized” Rome against “Barbarian” Other: The Romans engage in the apparently “barbarian” practice of sacrifice to the horror of the Goths. Demetrius notes that Rome is as barbarous as its enemies, whilst Lucius claims this action as Roman: “Our Roman rites: Alarbus’ limbs are lopped / And entrails feed the sacrificing fire” (1.1.146-147). This graphic description highlights the Romans’ brutality and, through the imagery of the body, further parallels state-level and individualized violence.

This graphic language also dehumanizes Alarbus, separating the object of his physical body from his personhood. Shakespeare sets the scene for his exploration of The Value of a Human by suggesting that this is a world in which human life is cheap in and of itself. Instead, a human’s value is inherently linked to their familial or tribal affiliation, and what they offer within this role. Alarbus’s death offers a retributive outlet.

Shakespeare also explores this theme through Tamora, introducing The Complications of Female Expression. In these early scenes, she takes on the typically feminine role of a mother appealing for mercy. She uses sophisticated rhetorical techniques through the use of rhetorical questions and appeals to pathos, asking Titus to think of his love for his children. She also attempts to use logic, noting that Alarbus’s actions fit the same model of martial virtue as Titus and his sons. However, when her appeals are rejected, Tamora maintains her front, later playing the role of a wife seeking reconciliation on her husband’s behalf as a cover for her revenge plot. Her continuation of the same language and themes, now as a pretense, suggests that the failure of these values to save her son has sapped them of their meaning for her: An appeal to shared humanity is now impossible—the value of a human is low in this atmosphere of violence.

Tamora’s active expression in this Act contrasts with Lavinia’s reticence. Whereas Tamora plays an active, public role as mother and consort, Lavinia conforms to the ideal of a demure, unmarried woman through her relative silence and impassivity. She speaks little and is maneuvered about the stage by the men, as Titus raises her from kneeling and Bassianus carries her off, then back again. Her passivity lays the ground for Shakespeare’s continued exploration of the archetype of the virtuous maiden later in the play, and the centrality of chastity to this ideal.

Aaron references classical mythology to highlight Lavinia’s honor, but also its vulnerability in this violent and male-dominated world: “Lucrece was not more chaste / Than this Lavinia, Bassianus’ love” (1.1. 608-609). Aaron’s use of this figure is laden with threat: Lucrece (or Lucretia) is violently raped by Tarquin, as explored in Shakespeare’s retelling in The Rape of Lucrece, a poem published shortly after Titus Andronicus was written. The Act ends with Aaron, Chiron, and Demetrius planning Lavinia’s rape, setting the scene for the escalation of violence throughout the rest of the play.