Titus Andronicus There is an opinion that Shakespeare couldnt write Titus Andronicus. The arguments against Shakespeares authorship seem to be not only esthetic. The person, who wrote this tragedy, piled up plenty of murders and villainous acts. The tragedy is full of grandiloquent phrases, false pathos, clamorous and garish recitation. Psychological motivation of the characters actions is either primitive, or absent. It is difficult to deny these facts. Titus Andronicus indeed has nothing in common with other Roman Shakespeares tragedies such as Romeo and Juliette, Hamlet, and others.
However, it gives us no grounds to deny the fact of Shakespeares authorship. The tragedy puts a question, How there is so much revenge and redemption that went on in the story? Shakespeare cannot be called the playwright living in an ivory tower and creating chef-d’oeuvre for future generations. He was a playwright, who listened keenly to the viewers responses. He followed the rule that the theatre should provide the audience with the things it desires to see. Probably, thats why he wrote the tragedy. At the same time, Shakespeare didnt want to upset the balance of power and to ruin the basics of the genre of bloody tragedy, but, on contrary, tried to follow them.
Being the talented author, Shakespeare faced the only goal to out-herod Herod (although this is a quotation from Hamlet, it perfectly fits to describe Shakespeares attitude to Titus Andronicus).
Really, Shakespeare managed to surpass all the horrors of the tragedy by describing deaths and acts of vengeance. For example, Broude considers that the tragedy implies four kinds of revenge human justice, family vendettas, divine vengeance, and human sacrifice in order to please the spirits of dead warriors (Broude 494-507).
The Term Paper on Titus Andronicus Summary
... originate in the way society views him. Gender In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare examines stereotypical gender roles. In the play’s opening scene, ... Titus Andronicus is considered a “revenge tragedy,” a genre that was made popular in the 16th century by Thomas Kyd (Spanish Tragedy) ... She then puts a staff in her mouth and writes out the names of Chiron and Demetrius, revealing the ...
The genre of bloody and murderous tragedy wasnt expected to play up to the brutish taste of a crowd, as it is often asserted by historians and literary critics. This genre had the historical roots both in life and culture of the ancient epoque. Ancient chronicles were full of murderous details enough to create thousands of similar tragedies.
Bloody revenge, executions, redemption, hidden and public murders were not the fruit of imagination, but the daily living practice. Especially it concerns the aristocracy, where violence was a usual method to solve the conflict. No wonder that Tutus Andronicus was a reflection of real events, especially taking into account the assertion that a cult of revenge is inseparable from that of honor in every incompletely civilized society where law does not dominate (Revenge Tragedy As Shakespearian Noir 2007) When you read Titus Andronicus more attentively, you inevitably find out that despite the visible primitiveness, the tragedy is deprived of no certain ideological background. Titus Andronicus is the bearer of patriotic principle. His high ideals are aimed to serve his native land and Rome. Titus offered up as a sacrifice all his powers as well as lives of his own sons to the native land. He strives for a civil peace and refuses from power for benefit of Saturnine, only to root out the seeds of discord in Rome.
Yet, Titus patriarchal virtues cannot be the guarantee of peace. They are opposed to thwarted ambition of Saturninus, revengefulness of Tamora and predatory cruelty of Aron. Probably, Shakespeare intentionally described the foreigners (Tamora and Aron) as people, who were destroying Rome from within. The genre, chosen by Shakespeare in Tutus Andronicus, was the important stage in development of dramatic art. It was one of the forerunners of the birth of new art and new world-view. The Medieval world-view understood life in the capacity of a certain smooth-running phenomenon (Fink 9), where individuality was the departure from the norm and law.
At the same time, Renaissance brought contraposition of an endless diversity of individual desires to former unity of life based on hierarchy. Although it is mere guesswork, Titus Andronicus can be examined as the evidence in support of this theory. Works Cited Broude, Ronald. “Four Forms of Vengeance in Titus Andronicus.” Journal of English and Germanic Philology LXXVIII.4 (1979): 494-507. Fink, Joel G. “The Conceptualization and Realization of Violence in Titus Andronicus.” On-Stage Studies 12 (1989): 1-10. Revenge Tragedy As Shakespearian Noir .
The Essay on Life in Rome
“Was Rome a pleasant city to live in?” Well, writers who wrote about it say that they didn’t think so. This is based on survived writings. One big reason why life was not that good was the plan of the city. To many buildings were being built. Emperors were building too many impressive, marble temples. Then in the residential areas were the insulae. They are unplanned blocks of poorly built ...
27 April 2007 ..
