he first day of rehearsal meant that it was my first time hearing the play with this cast. There’s such a difference from repeatedly reading the words on the page and having them read to you. I had already thought about some of the themes in Titus-- revenge, destruction of bodies, family, etc-- but hearing the words and hearing the everyone talk about the words made a difference.
Shakespeare employs a lot of foreshadowing in Titus. Rape is mentioned really early on in the play and so parts of Metamorphoses. The characters frequently talk about “Revenge” (with a capital “R”) indicating that it’s something more than just vengeance. They might be talking about some form of Nemesis or Shakespeare might just be emphasizing that being vengeful is more than just a simple emotion; it’s like having a sentient passenger.
We talked a lot about violence and killing, and how killing isn’t enough for these characters. Amalia said that for the characters of this world, dying with it wasn’t enough, that the worst punishment was living with it. Which is true, the deaths in this play (except Alarbus) mostly occur in order to harm someone else: Bassianus is killed so that Titus’ sons can be framed for his murder, Chiron and Demetrius are killed so that they can be baked into pies. The final scene has a lot of murder, but it’s so rapid fire that it feels more like the culmination of everything that’s happened. The characters have already been mutilated, had their loved ones slaughtered, been mentally tortured… where else can they go at that point but death?
Family is a theme in Titus, but to the characters the sense of family is warped and easily manipulated. Aaron and Tamora have their own little twisted nuclear family, while Titus has a large and far-flung family. Aaron and Tamora are the villains of the play, but they seem to care the most about their offspring: Aaron is ready to sacrifice everything so that his son can live and the ultimate punishment for Tamora is accidentally eating her two sons. Titus, on the other hand, is more ready to dispose of his children. He has lost over twenty of his sons, and seems more upset that Rome is falling rather than his family. Titus cares when Lavinia gets mutilated, but his relationship with her is different than with his many sons. How well could Titus have really known all of those kids? Romans adopted kids frequently, so they might not have all even been his.
Shakespeare employs a lot of foreshadowing in Titus. Rape is mentioned really early on in the play and so parts of Metamorphoses. The characters frequently talk about “Revenge” (with a capital “R”) indicating that it’s something more than just vengeance. They might be talking about some form of Nemesis or Shakespeare might just be emphasizing that being vengeful is more than just a simple emotion; it’s like having a sentient passenger.
We talked a lot about violence and killing, and how killing isn’t enough for these characters. Amalia said that for the characters of this world, dying with it wasn’t enough, that the worst punishment was living with it. Which is true, the deaths in this play (except Alarbus) mostly occur in order to harm someone else: Bassianus is killed so that Titus’ sons can be framed for his murder, Chiron and Demetrius are killed so that they can be baked into pies. The final scene has a lot of murder, but it’s so rapid fire that it feels more like the culmination of everything that’s happened. The characters have already been mutilated, had their loved ones slaughtered, been mentally tortured… where else can they go at that point but death?
Family is a theme in Titus, but to the characters the sense of family is warped and easily manipulated. Aaron and Tamora have their own little twisted nuclear family, while Titus has a large and far-flung family. Aaron and Tamora are the villains of the play, but they seem to care the most about their offspring: Aaron is ready to sacrifice everything so that his son can live and the ultimate punishment for Tamora is accidentally eating her two sons. Titus, on the other hand, is more ready to dispose of his children. He has lost over twenty of his sons, and seems more upset that Rome is falling rather than his family. Titus cares when Lavinia gets mutilated, but his relationship with her is different than with his many sons. How well could Titus have really known all of those kids? Romans adopted kids frequently, so they might not have all even been his.