Titus Andronicus

(link to Google Doc)

Favorite Quotes

Sometimes lines or phrases wallop you while reading. Other times, they're obviously meant to be pivotal in the literary sense. Below are a few of those from Titus Andronicus.

Reflection & Synopsis

I like to write my own vision/version in the summaries for each act, which also helps me remember the plot. I hope you enjoy. And don't take them too seriously (or rely on them for an exam)!

Act I

At the start of the play, Titus Andronicus, a overzealous head football coach, has just returned from a big win on the road, in the playoffs. The Rome Raiders beat their rivals and are now state champs! Woot! Woot! They now must decide who should be prom king. Jokingly, Titus is nominated, but it ultimately comes down to two guys: Saturninus, the quarterback who is at his peak, and Bassianus, the nerdy AP student who comes with his own drama. Ultimately, Titus recommends Saturninus, who gets elected prom king. Saturninus then points out Lavinia, the head cheerleader and hottie, to be his prom queen. Abruptly, Bassinanus demands Saturninus not pursue Lavinia, as she already agreed to go to prom with him. With that, Bassinanus grabs Lavinia, and they drive off together. Saturninus looks into the crowd and spots Tamora, the goth girl from the rival school, and asks her to prom. They take off, too.

As Coach Titus attempts to intervene into the drama of “who should Lavinia date,” Mutius tries to stop him. Titus immediately expels Mutius from school (he kills him), but he eventually agrees to have a farewell ceremony for Mutius. Additionally, Prom King Saturninus tells Tamora and her friends from the rival school, along with Aaron, Tamora’s secret black (moor) lover, that they can head out, for now.

Act II

Staying with the metaphor, Aaron, the rival school bad boy and secret lover of Tamora, has declared his love for her. He says all of this just outside the Rome high school building. As he admits this, he hears two classmates arguing. Chiron and Demetrius stumble upon him. They’re debating who would and should be the better lover for Lavinia. They both make their case, expressing their passion for her by tousling with each other. Aaron breaks up their fight and offers the following advice: rape Lavinia.

Meanwhile (and a little later), Titus Andronicus leads a morning hunt for a panther. Along with him are a few students, Marcus, Saturninus, Bassianus, Lavinia, and Chiron and Demetrius. Saturninus jokes that it’s too early for women to be awake, but Lavinia rebukes him. Chiron and Demetrius, off to the side, discuss their plan to abduct and rape Lavinia.

Aaron, the mischievous troublemaker from Visig High, buries a bag full of gold under a tree in the forest. Tamora finds him and begins pestering him to have sex. Aaron brushes her off, more interested in deceiving Bassianus and raping Lavinia, so he leaves. Shortly after that, Lavinia and Bassianus appear before Tamora, who’s still in the forest. They ridicule her for loving a black man, Aaron, and threaten to expose her. In fact, they’re quite rude about it, at one point saying, “your swarth Cimmerian / Doth make your honour of his body's hue, / Spotted, detested, and abominable.” Translation: you are as dark on the inside as Aaron is on the outside. (That’s a double insult, and well done.) This angers Tamora, obviously. Just then, Chiron and Demetrius arrive, and Tamora tells them that Lavinia and Bassianus threatened to tie her to a tree and ridicule her more. Tamora is quite distraught at this point, but also highly conniving, hoping to rid herself of at least one issue quickly: Bassianus. She says to Chiron and Demetrius, “Revenge it, as you love your mother's life, / Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.” Their response? They find Bassianus and Stab! Stab! Bassianus is dead. They toss his body into a nearby pit. Funny? Yes. Remember the pit!

Tamora’s vengeance is barely satiated with Bassianus’s death. She wants nothing to do with Lavina, that bitch! She tells Chiron and Demetrius, “But when ye have the honey ye desire, / Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.” Translation: After you two both rape her, be sure to kill her. We don’t need Lavina to screw us over later. Lavina’s a virgin, if it wasn’t obvious already. Lavina begins begging for her life. She tries appealing to Chiron as a man who can make his own decisions, but he won’t back down. She then appeals to Tamora herself: “No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature!” I liked this line. Does Tamora, Queen of the Goths, represent a more male figure in the play? Lavina’s call toward grace (perhaps God/Tamora’s power, for Tamora can stop this) and her call toward “sisterhood” went unheard. They all leave.

A few minutes later, Aaron comes walking with two people from the Rome Raiders, Martius and Quintus. They’re chatting away about where to find the best tail when OOOPS! Martius falls into the very pit that Bassianus lies in. Yikes! Martius tries to convince Quintus to reach out his hand and lift him back up. You guessed it: Quintus tumbles into the pit, too. To Aaron’s delight, he now has two pawns to take the blame for Bassianus’s death. Speaking of, Aaron returns on the scene with Saturninus. He shouts into the pit and they tell him his best friend, Bassianus is dead. Saturninus can’t believe it. As fate would have it, Tamora shows back up, this time with Titus and Lucius.

At the end of Act II, Demetrius and Chiron have ravished (raped) Lavina as well as cut out her tongue and chopped off her hands . . . as one does, apparently. Marcus Andronicus finds Lavinia and assures her that her family will support her. He also notes that this will likely destroy her father, Titus.

Act III