In the opening scene of ‘Titus Andronicus’ (1594) the character Tamora’s speech lines 107-123 can be contrasted heavily to the rest of the play, and even the rest of the scene. Titus's murder of Alarbus is the very first act of revenge in the play, which will later prompt Tamora to carry out her own revenge. The desperation in Tamora’s speech proves how much she values her children. You can see this in:
“Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed,
A mother’s tears in passion for her son.
And if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
O think my son to be as dear to me. “
(Shakespeare, 1594, Act 1, Scene 1, lines 109-111)
Tamora is using Titus’s sons as an example. Though Titus does not respect nor hardly acknowledge her devotion to her own son. Titus
…show more content…
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘Massacre’ as ‘The indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) animals; carnage, butchery, slaughter in numbers;’ (2000). The word ‘massacre’ implies that Tamora’s revenge, or her anger can no longer be justified as it ‘indiscriminate’. We as the audience should not feel inclined to sympathise with her any longer. She has made her decision, and one that inevitably ends in tragedy. In many productions of ‘Titus Andronicus’ Tamora can be seen wearing warrior like dresses. This accentuates her strength and could act a warning- do not cross her. These lines are essentially the turning point of the play, it is these lines that condemn the fate of many characters. You could argue that as Tamora is a woman, much of the revenge in the play, although has not been made any les gory, is still quite effeminate. In the book ‘Roman or Revenger?: The Definition and Distortion of Masculine Identity in Titus Andronicus.’ By Brecken Rose Hancock explores this in more detail. “Because he has Tamora disguised as Revenge, Shakespeare connects revenge with women, and thus sets up another difference between revenge and the overtly masculine principles of Roman heroism. In contrast to the state-sanctioned violence of the first scene, the violence that dominates the rest of the play