Titus Andronicus: Shakespeare’s Horror

Titus has the dagger. The look on the faces of the guys in the back pretty much says it all.

Titus Andronicus makes Romeo and Juliet with its “tragedy” (yep, Titus comparatively puts that in sarcastic air quotes) and even something like Hamlet (which I had previously subtitled “Everybody Dies”) look like Disney movies by comparison. This play has got Quentin Tarantino written all over it. If I were better connected, I would totally pitch that: “Sorry guys, Branagh is out. I have a better idea.” The point is that this play is beyond frightening: it is well and truly disturbing. It’s not just that it’s a bloodbath start to finish, or that it has such an abundance of mutilation, what makes Titus Andronicus so shudder-inducing is the idea of how horrible human beings can be to one another.

Shock and awe definitely come into play at several points in Titus, and I feel like that may be part of the point in having a play like this, or its contemporary counterparts in other mediums: we should be shocked when we see a horrible act of violence; we should be awestruck as we see a father kill members of his family. In this, the play becomes sort of a moral barometer. However, I don’t think this is something that just happens when you put blood and guts on stage or on the screen; I think that for this kind of horror show to carry that kind of philosophical weight, the author needs to apply a great deal of care and artistry to insuring that not only are the monstrosities present, but that the message is as well. I do believe it’s here in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.

I won’t spoil much for you, but I will say that I knew I was in trouble when in the first scene, having lost twenty-one of twenty-five his sons in battle, Titus kills a twenty-second himself for disobeying him in public. However, factoring in relativity, this seems like one of the play’s lighter moments.

Speaking of lighter moments, I will end with a two-line poem of my own design, specifically dedicated to those of you who are familiar with the play:

Don’t believe him when he tells you that he couldn’t hurt a fly.
And when Titus calls you to dinner, I wouldn't have the pie.

So, now that the Andronician bloodbath is behind me, I definitely need a comedy. I think All’s Well That Ends Well is up next. I should be back on with that next week.

Thanks for reading.

Shawn