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Allusions In The Trojan War

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Throughout Titus Andronicus, many allusions are made to the Trojan War, a violent ten-year battle fought between the Trojans and the Greeks in ancient times. I believe that those references are meant to drive home the point of revenge as a cycle of murder, betrayal, and bloodshed. One example is the status shift that Tamora undergoes during the first three acts of the play. In 1.1, Tamora and her children were simply prizes of war that Titus gifted the emperor. As the Romans made to kill Tamora’s firstborn son, she fell to her knees, begging for mercy that the Romans ignored. Although later in 1.1 Tamora convinced the emperor to allow Titus’s kin to remain unpunished after assisting Prince Bassianus with the “stealing” of Lavinia, she held her true plans close to her chest. …show more content…

Prince Bassianus was just slain by her sons at her command to keep her reputation. Lavinia, knowing that she was to be killed next, pled upon Tamora’s womanhood, hoping that it would encourage the empress to be merciful. Seeing that, Tamora recalled when she was in Lavinia’s exact position and no mercy was granted to her. Her statement, “Remember, boys, I poured forth tears in vain/To save your brother from the sacrifice,/But fierce Andronicus would not relent,” exemplified the complete dynamic shift of Tamora’s character. She now had the power, standing at the top of the cycle of revenge. However, after Titus is shown what happened to his daughter, Lavinia, as well as gifted the heads of his sons from the emperor, he vowed to “find Revenge’s cave,” hinting at another power transference (Act III Scene

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at the beginning of the act, Tamora, the captive of the Goths, delivers this speech :"". Because she and her sons are captured by Titus Andronicus, Titus wants to sacrifice Tamora's oldest son as a memorial to Titus' 21 sons who died during the war. She talks to Titus Andronicus solely to convince him to not slaughter her first born son and have mercy on her. In the sense that Titus has fought the brutal war for ten years and are in the hatred of 21 dead sons, Titus killed Tamora's son no matter how she begs him.

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