Titus Andronicus is one of the earliest of Shakespeare’s tragedies and may have been written as early as the late 1580s. It is by far the most violent and bloody of all of Shakespeare’s works and includes such atrocities as rape, murder, dismemberment and a mother being served her children in the form of a pie. Indeed, the action and the violence at times seem so far over the top that it is hard to believe the play is not a parody or satire of some sort. A number of commentators maintain this position and the uncertainty over how to stage the play, together with changing sensibilities concerning the nature of violence on stage, particularly violence against women, has been responsible for the play’s declining popularity in the modern age.

The plot concerns the struggle for power among the potential successors to the recently deceased Roman Emperor, which include his sons Saturninus and Bassianus, as well as the victorious general Titus Andronicus, who has returned to the city after a decade of warfare with the spoils of victory. The spoils include the Queen of the Goths, Tamora and her three sons, as well as her lover the Moor (a word used for North African people generally and originally indicating a person from Morocco) Aaron, who turns out to be one of the most deeply evil characters ever introduced by Shakespeare. Titus takes two acts with long ranging consequences: first, he turns down the offer of the throne, thereby leading to renewed fighting by the two brothers. Second, he has Tamora’s eldest son Alarbus sacrificed for the sake of his victory. From then on, the play takes the form of the Revenge Play which had been very popular throughout much of Europe in the preceding decades. The Revenge Play customarily sees an escalation of acts of vengeance and violence after an initial act that leads to the desire for revenge and contains the tragic element in the action. So, Titus Andronicus is a tragedy because the misery is caused by a flaw in the eponymous hero’s character which is betrayed by his lack of judgment in the two acts described above. Titus is neither sufficiently ruthless nor sufficiently merciful. He lets Tamora live but kills her son; he refuses the throne when he could have brought peace to the Empire.

Perhaps the most famous scene in the play comes with the rape of Titus’ daughter Lavinia by Tamora’s other two sons together with Aaron and with Tamora’s assistance. The three men also cut off Lavinia’s hands and pull out her tongue, so that she cannot identify her attackers. It is difficult to imagine any directors really wishing to stage this kind of action and many members of the audience really wanting to participate in a play in which the action is taken seriously.