Titus Andronicus

William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is a play full of gore and violence from its very core. The play continually compares the two nationality groups, the Goths, and the Romans. The title character and his family are considered the protagonists, and the Goths, are mainly the antagonists. Each group has noble attributes, but also darker and sickly attributes. There is the constant question of civilized versus uncivilized characters throughout the play. Shakespeare uses animal imagery and references to convey the brutality and beastly viciousness the characters have. The use of animals and comparing characters to them is a metaphor for the civilization of the characters. These comparisons to animals is a symbol of how both the Goths and the
Littered amongst Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter verse is the comparison to a tiger. Furthermore, it is not limited to one character. Titus describes Rome as “a wilderness of tigers” (3.1.54). This is in reference to how wild and ferocious the city and its inhabitants can be. Titus, by use of this metaphor, is describing himself as a tiger. Subsequently Titus remarks that “Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey / but me and mine” (3.1.55-56). Titus is the tiger. He is the predator, and cannot afford to become preyed upon. This violent description of himself has not been placed upon him by another character, but rather of his own intellect. Titus is alluding to his own violent tendencies, brought on by his rage toward the events of Lavinia’s rape. These tendencies bring about an uncivilized character. The metaphor of the tiger is not limited to the Roman Andronici, but also to the Goths. The savage traits are applied to Tamora on various occasions. The first is when Lavinia is being harassed by Tamora’s sons Chiron and Demetrius; Lavinia asking “When did the tiger’s young ones teach the dam?” (2.2.142) due to the cruelty all three are showing Lavinia. Lucius, later on at the closing of the play, indicates that she is a “ravenous tiger” (5.3.194). Tamora, according to Titus’ earlier remark, “must prey,” since she too is vicious. Both the Romans and
The only exception to this standard is Lavinia. Lavinia is not described as a tiger, on the contrary she is twice described as a deer. The first is by Demetrius calling her “a dainty doe” (2.1.26). The second is by her uncle Marcus after her rape; “Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer / that hath received some unrecuring wound” (3.1.90). Lavinia is the prey that the tigers of Rome seek. In the second act of the play Titus and his collective go on a hunt for animals, on the other hand Lavinia is being hunted. Tamora in conversation with Aaron recalls “As if a double hunt were heard at once” (2.2.19). Demetrius and Chiron, the “bear-whelps” (4.1.96), the “tiger’s young ones” (2.2.142), “hunt now…with horse nor hound, / But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground” (2.1.25-26). The sons plan on treating Lavinia as if she were a creature that is hunted. Lavinia will be mutilated and ravaged as if she were a deer that would be slaughtered. Lavinia is the only character that does not have a vicious agenda. She is in turn sacrificed by her own father, “die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee” (5.3.45), so that she will not be preyed upon any longer by the predators that linger around