Essay On Titus Andronicus

Advance Thy Name: The Many Faces of Honour in Titus Andronicus It is no wonder that two of the words used most often in Shakespeare’s iconic revenge tragedy, Titus Andronicus, are “honour” and its converse “dishonour.” Preserving the first and avoiding the second seem to be Titus’ two primary motivations during the action of the play. It is not her peace of mind that Lavinia loses when she is so cruelly defiled by Demetrius and Chiron, but her honour. Mutius is executed not because he betrays his father, but because he dishonours him.

Titus is a film adaption of William Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Sponsored by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Sky Productions, director Julie Taymor and produces Conchita Airoldi and Jody Allen were able to bring Shakespeare’s vision to life. The main characters Titus and Tamora were played by Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Throughout the film the audience experiences how destructive revenge can be and the effects it has. A few important quotes that applies to this film would be, “If one wishes for revenge, before you know it, a hurt as bad as the one wished for will come upon the wisher” by CLAMP and “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves” by Confucius. The movie Titus shows that revenge is an

The theme for honour and fidelity apply for both men and women in Shakespeare’s play ‘much ado about nothing’. Honour and fidelity is represented very differently for men and women as it would have been for the people in Elizabethan times. In this first section of the essay, I will be exploring double standards and Shakespeare’s awareness of the double standards between sexes and his feminist approach, the differences of honour and fidelity for men and women and upper class and lower class comparisons.

There are have been many arguments throughout the history of Shakespearean academia regarding the validity of Shakespeare’s authorship to Titus Andronicus, and the critics have not been shy to express their discontent of its seemingly endless violent montage. As Michael Fentiman and Harold Fuller point out of what Dr. Samuel Johnson spoke to in 1765,

The creator of Titus Andronicus is William Shakespeare. The subject I pick that identifies with current circumstances is revenge. Revenge is the activity of incurring hurt or mischief on somebody for a harm or wrong endured at their hands. The literary text I will use to examine the content is personification. The reason personification is significant in the play is on account of Tamora suspected that Titus was insane and came to visit him dressed as revenge.

Some say revenge is a dish best served cold, but in Titus Andronicus this dish is served piping hot and bloody. One of the literary themes presented is critical disability study. Critical disability is when somebody stands out from the norm. One study talks about being socially disabled and not being able to fit in with the rest of the group in the story. Another study talks about the definition of normality, and how those who don’t fit into that category affect the story as a whole. Another story talks about how being disabled in a certain way acts as a catalyst for a character and fuels their actions from then on. In Titus Andronicus each of these forms of critical disability are present. Titus and Lavinia are both crippled in a multitude of ways physically. However, there are other characters who have a disability that cripples them; Aaron the Moor, Tamora queen of the goths, and Saturninus the Emperor. They are crippled in different ways through their views and actions. These crippled characters are a major part of the story. If they were not present or the things that crippled them were not present then the story would not be viewed in the same light.

Honor is one of those concepts that is seldom defined. One’s reputation is based on his or her honor, integrity, honesty, and purity. William Shakespeare’s Henry IV is a one of his many plays that deal with the varying ideas of honor, as well as issues of courage, loyalty, and ambition, interposing examples of dishonor, weakness, and the deceitful plots among both the drunkards and noblemen. Shakespeare utilizes suggestive metaphors to create illusions, imagery, and to reinforce the different views of the major issues people were faced with in his time and in ours. His plays often focus on the imagery, either on some obvious important symbol, or some image pattern that recurs throughout the work. Readers are

Titus Andronicus is an interesting play of William Shakespeare’s that deals with multiple difficult and important plot devices and themes. Themes of love, duty, grief, and revenge, among others. The play deals with death, rape, the nature of disability, and service to one’s nation. Many events and tragedies happen to Titus and his family, stemming from Titus killing the son of the queen of Goths. Titus’ perception of his tragedy truly begins in Act 3 scene 1. Two of Titus’ sons are being charged with the murder of the emperor’s brother, despite the fact that they did not commit this heinous act. In the speech he gives in lines 65-80, we see a change in Titus that is unprecedented to this point. Here, because of the injustice about to be served to his sons, Titus shows more outward emotion and affection than he’s shown to this place in the play. The imagery and the speech in this scene tell a bit about Titus before this turning point, and the man he will be after.

All the persons Shakespeare depicts in Titus are two dimensional, either good or bad. The dividing line falls between those who support Titus, the tragic warrior hero, and those on the side of Tamora, the evil Queen-empress. The former are noble and selfless, demonstrating roman pietas, while the latter are ignoble and selfish. In Jack E. Reese's essay, The Formalization of Horror in Titus Andronicus, he makes the point that Tamora and her sons' allegorical dressing-up as "Revenge, Murder, and Rapine can be viewed as a symbol of the characterization of the entire work" (Horror 79). In this scene, they are as they are, the symbol is exactly the same as the person. The only two characters who might be said to escape the dichotomy are Titus and Aaron the Moor. In Rome, Titus "sacrifices" both his son and his daughter, says Miola, "on the alter of his own personal honor" (Family 67). It is fair to say that personal honor is his concern in killing his offspring, for Mutius represents shameful filial disobedience (or mutiny) and Lavinia represents his inability to protect her and is a reminder of a shameful act done not only to her, but to her whole Andronici family too. It

It is this over dedication to Rome and his lacking of the lacking of the feminine, which also causes Titus to turn a cold heart to Tamora's pleas. "Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, a mother's tears in passion for her son; and if thy sons were ever dearer to thee O, think my son to be as dear to me!" (Shakespeare, I.i, 106-108) However, Titus' devotion to Roman customs and inability to identify with a mother's pleas, that her "son is mark'd and die he must, t'appease their groaning shadows that are gone" (Shakespeare, I.i, 125-126.) His lack of femininity and desire that Roman tradition be followed allows him no sympathy for this upset mother and as result will suffer later in the play.

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.

Men and women’s honour play a very important role in William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and in the times of the Elizabethan era. Throughout the play characters are faced with situations destroying their honour and they will go through many obstacles to restore their honour. Some of the characters are not controversial men and woman and do not always live up to certain ideals that define an honourable man and woman. In the opening scene, Shakespeare introduces the concept honour when Leonato, governor of Messina, asks the messenger whether people have died in the recent battle. The messenger replies, But few of any sort, and none of name. (1.1.7). This is an indication that honour is of high importance to the people in Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare shows the honourable woman through the character Hero.

Throughout the history of the world, honor has been an important part of life. In literature, as well, honor plays an important role in many plots and the development of almost any character. Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing is no exception. In this comedy about love and marriage, honor is revealed as the primary reason for many of the actions taken by several different characters. When Claudio breaks off his wedding with Hero, he does it because he believes she is not chastised as she claims to be and in being such, she would dishonor him as well as her father if the marriage were to proceed as planned. The play is an accurate depiction of the honor code and the different standards for men and women of the time in regards to

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.

The Illusion of Honour Humanity constantly strives to find inspiration for success, and an explanation for failure and wrongdoing. To truly understand the thought and reasoning behind the actions of another person is an intricate endeavour. In his play Hamlet, Shakespeare explores how individuals with similar end goals can possess vastly different incentives, driven by honour or a lack thereof. Throughout the text, it is revealed how characters who appear to have the same desires are in reality driven by varying factors: self-blame and comparison to others, a fear of blame for the sake of power, and finally a desire for justice through righteous means.