Character Analysis of Aaron the Moor in Shakespeare´s Titus Andronicus

Race is abundant in Titus Andronicus. Aaron is a Moor from Northern Africa, making him one of Shakespeare’s first main character of color. Even though the term racism wasn’t created until 1902 (Demby), through Aaron the audience gets a glimpse of how people were racially treated in the Elizabethan Era.

Allistair Brown claims that we take entertainment out of simulated violence because it is cathartic (Brown). Brown also argues that, “Violence becomes comic because laughter, denying the reality or seriousness of whatever threatens, is a way of dealing with trauma” (Brown). With the world being consumed with death at every doorstep, what is so far-fetched at the notion that Titus Andronicus is an extremely dark comedy to help a broken soul cope with the grim reality of medieval life? As there is almost nothing else for society to take away as a benefit from the play (RedEyesTakeWarning), what else could it be? There are already plenty of examples in literature that deliver morals and lessons learned from seeking revenge. Why

Dr. Alistair Brown’s article discusses humanity’s amazing ability to make violence entertaining. Dr. Brown suspect’s laughter is a defense mechanism activated when a moment is too horrific. He also believes how and why the death of a character occurs will determine the audiences emotional response. What’s most uncomfortable about Titus Andronicus is the really terrifying, brutal, and monstrous deeds done happen in real life. Dr. Brown addresses Lavinia’s rape, Chiron and Demetrius’ violent acts, Aaron’s sly self-loyalty, racism, and clashing beliefs against Taymor’s ancient/modern Rome, and believes this is a metaphor for violence and its lack of respect for time. Our responsibility as the audience is to figure out whether or not the acts

Their antisocial behavior shows how failure they are, and how they do not learn from their experiences. Richard is a white character who is from a royal family. His motivation for being a king makes him violent and bloody character. Richard kills anyone who runs for the throne. Richard’s mind explores his evil personality, and his deeds reflect his sophisticated and complicated behavior. He is unconscious that his antisocial behavior could lead him to his perdition. On the other hand, Shakespeare creates Aaron as a black character whose motivation represents his evil personality. Aron’s motivation is to make Tamora's dream of revenge to a real dream. At the end of the play, Aron admits that he has a hand in all the crimes that happened to Titus’s family, and he does not feel guilty for his deeds. Aaron has been shown as “untruthfulness, insincerity and lack of remorse or shame.”(705). He

Titus Andronicus is a play marked by acts of horrific violence and littered with the deaths and the destruction of others. Each violent act in explaining and encouraging the motives of the characters. Revenge is the characters of Titus and Tamora’s only desire.

Titus Andronicus introduces the reader to a multifaceted relationship of a father and a son. In the very first scene of the play, just after Titus says, “What, villain, boy / Barr’st me my way in Rome?” (1.1.295-96), he kills Mutius, his own son. Titus is not concerned about his daughter eloping with Bassianus, rather he believes that the ten-year long war has won him the ownership of Rome. His pride cannot let anyone, even his son, stand between him and his prized possession. Shakespeare uses violence to depict the masculine character of Titus. Titus’ ego shines more brightly in these lines than his love for his son.

After Aaron fools Titus into cutting off his hand to save his sons. He describes Titus’s reaction to having his sons heads delivered to him, from his perspective, ”I pried me through the crevice of a wall when, for his hand,he had his two sons’ heads, Beheld his tears, and laughed so heartily that both mine eyes were rainy like to his”(5.1. 116-19). Aaron is so detached from

In fact, the two characters in Shakespeare’s plays are very significant since their stance against the damaged honor is similar. Titus and Hamlet have their own individual moral standpoints on taking revenge in which one display emotional outbursts that is Titus and another shows maturity of thought while

Many fathers appear in the works of William Shakespeare, family dynamics are the center of nearly all his plays. Shakespeare must have known that relations between members of shared bloodlines were ripe for drama, suspense, and highly emotional content. However, despite the many fathers depicted, and plays named for them, fathers King Lear and Titus Andronicus stand as share contrasts to one another. Both have their plays named ominously for them, insinuating that they are the center of the events, as was expected in during the period when these plays were written and published. Despite the separate locations and time periods the plays are set in, the patriarchal line of importance remains in both. However, Titus represents a man who loses the ability to control and protect his children from sinister others and even himself. Lear, however, suffers the tragedy of being betrayed and harmed by his own children. In this aspect Lear and Titus represent two extreme examples of fatherhood, and explore the faults and dangers of each.

In Act V of Titus Andronicus, Aaron is stuck with the difficult choice of protecting his baby or keeping his own secrets. He chooses to protect his baby and is forced to reveal to Lucius how he is involved with all of the recent scandals. Aaron was able to influence the actions of others without anyone finding out. Lucius discovers his weakness and is able to extract all these secrets from Aaron. Not only do the secrets show that Aaron is evil and has plotted against the Andronicus family, it shows that he has used other people to make his plans successful.

There is such a considerable amount of violence in Titus, varying in intensity and degree that it might seem hard to draw any firm conclusions about its impact. One can, however, obtain the idea that the violence within the play has a far greater impact on both the audience and the on-stage characters when accompanied by a rhetoric or language that either juxtaposes or reinforces the brutality. The way in which characters react to violence, evident through their speech and imagery, can manipulate our responses to them and instil either an affinity or indifference to their personalities. Titus' first appearance in Act I Scene I is an example of this manipulation. His cold, calculating rejection of Tamora's plea for her son's life, juxtaposed with the solemn, funeral rhetoric give us the impression of a character who can flit between brutality and normality very easily, and who demonstrates little compassion when doing so.

Titus transforms into a character of carnival in Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus.” Carnival is a concept described by Michael Bristol in his paper “Funeral Bak’d-Meats.” In the paper, Bristol describes carnival as a period before the beginning Lent in early modern Europe, characterized by “hedonistic excess and transgression.” (Bristol 351) Carnival characters place special emphasis on food, disguise and a reversal of the social order or “uncrowning.” The lower classes usually celebrate Carnival and they dismiss rules or decorum. Carnival celebrates the body and practical issues of daily “production and reproduction,” rejecting official culture. Carnivalesque behavior includes using disguises,

A notable example of a commandment that influenced character’s sins was the fifth commandment. It testified that, if one honoured their family, then they would have lived longer. However, if they didn’t, then they would face a consequence. First of all, in act III, scene IV Edgar mentions,

In Shake spears King Lear, a tragedy between parents and children is evident. When the play opens, Lear comes up with a test of love to justify giving Cordelia a large share of his kingdom. Morally, the kingdom should be divided equally. Driven by his love for Cordelia, he decides to give her largest share of his wealth. His two daughters Goneril and Regan deceive him by using sappy and excessive declarations of their love for their father. Cordelia sincere and truthful cannot engage in such a competition. She simply declares that she loves his father simply as a daughter should love her father. Although truthful, her response angers the king who ends up disinheriting her completely. A close friend of the king the Earl of Kent tries to talk on behalf of Cordelia, but the king is so furious that he banishes him. Cordelia is later married by the king of France who admires her honesty. She leaves for France and leave the king with his two cunning daughters. Although banished, Kent knows the evil nature of the two daughters and remains in order to protect the king from his two evil children. Through disguise he can take a job as King Lear's servant. The true nature of Regan and Goneril are revealed once they realize that they are now in possession of all the king's wealth. The king, a fool, and some knights in charge of the king's security soon leave to live with Goneril. When Goneril reveals how he intends to treat his father, the

There once was an owner of a real estate agency, he was known as King Lear because of all the property he owned and leased. However, Lear was growing tired of his job yet he wanted to keep his title as “CEO” but didn’t want to keep on working. Lear was a very well-respected man in the real estate industry however he was growing old and his children were growing eager to take over the business.