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Titus andronicus critical essays
Titus andronicus critical essays
Titus andronicus critical essays
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Titus Andronicus has had a fair share of mixed reviews over the last centuries but has still remained a work of fascinating symbolism as well as a violent, poetic story. The story was meant to entertain the lower classes of England at the time who enjoyed such activities as bear baiting, where a bear would have its claws and teeth pulled out before being tied to a post where savage pitt-bulls would bite it to death (White). The people of sixteenth century England were also very accustomed to public hangings and torturous punishments. Colin Burrow, a researcher of early Tudor literature, noted that, "Cruelty is part of Shakespeare's World and it generates a high proportion of the energy into his drama." (Smith 4). When the play was first published, it received exceptional reviews, but later it was spat on as one of the most disgustingly violent and worse written Shakespeare play. How did the reviews turn so sour so quickly? The culture at the time had the most to do with it. With such violent epics such as The Godfather, Scarface, Natural Born Killers, and Pulp Fiction, it is no wonder that Titus Andronicus has once again revealed itself to the masses as an entertaining piece of work. The idolization of violent entertainment in recent years is the reason for the increase of appeal towards Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus.
The reviews of this play from the 1930's show us that most people did not like violent literature. It was around this time that America fell into the Depression. Reading Titus probably did not amuse them because of the heavy burden of poverty. In 1934 T.S. Eliot dismissed the play as "one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever." If only he had known that stupidest wasn't a word, he probably would'...
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...r the raping of Lavinia, Titus kills Tamora's sons, bakes them into a pastry, and serves it back unto Tamora's stomach, where they came from. Titus also kills her after letting her know that she ate her two remaining sons, so for this Saturninus, in a fit of rage, murders Titus. To top it off, to avenge his father, Lucius kills the Emperor, Saturninus. "Revenge has the final grim chuckle, having wracked havoc on fractured human psyches and the Roman state." (Smith 32).
Works Cited
Smith, Henry. Shakesphere's Tragedies. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1984.
Nightingale, Joesph. Symbolism in Shakesphere. Boston: Delmar, 1995.
Shakesphere, William. Titus Andronicus. England, 1596.
White, Janet. "From the Gallows to the Stage." 6/17/99. Ebsco host. Accessed at HCC lib., MA. 12/03/04.
Titus. Julie Taymor, Jody Patton, Shakesphere. VHS. Fox Searchlights, 2000
The murder of Mutius indicates that he was not as equally cherished as his older brother, Lucius. Although Titus called Lucius a traitor, Lucius was never in danger of being killed by his father. Lucius, as the oldest, appears to be in a position of immunity while Mutius, and his brothers who were killed in battle, were expendable. It is of no consequence that so many bodies were laid to rest because, most importantly, the eldest son survives and the family name is able to continue. Titus instills loyalty in Lucius and, in turn, Lucius honors his father.
Shakespeare's first tragedy has been a topic of discussion since the day it was written. Titus Andronicus "was staged on 24 January 1594 by the Earl of Sussex's Men at the Rose Theatre" (Welsh 1). Though this tidbit of information seems somewhat irrelevant to Titus, we must note that there are certain standards and practices established by a play from its first performance. It is also important to establish the general attributes that audiences attribute to Shakespearean performance.
Plays at this time were a representation of life. People, at this time, did not have modern visual luxuries upon which to garner entertainment. Plays, as well as playwrights, were supposed to bring life to the people and life to the story,
Conflict has many different meanings for both physical and verbal abuse. Conflict could be a viscous feud or a full on physical fight. These days in television soap dramas we intend to see more verbal conflict than physical violence. But over the last couple of years new television programmes have been released which contains a lot of action-packed fighting and physical conflict of some kind. Some programmes include physical and verbal conflict including, “Eastenders”, “The Bill” and other programmes similar to these. The releasing of films such as, “Indiana Jones”, and “Rambo” catches the audience’s attention by involving action-packed, exciting features such as heavy arguments or thrilling battles. Some films are made to include action and excitement but when audiences watch it they cannot help feeling sorry for the victim or just generally sad for the people having the fight. In the same way Romeo and Juliet presents conflict more intense than most soap dramas. When the play was first performed in “The Theatre”, in Shoreditch in the mid 1590’s, the Elizabethan audience was shocked at how Juliet disobeyed her father and also how Romeo and Juliet disobeyed their families. Sympathy must be felt for the audience because they would have never known the idea of a son or daughter disobeying their father. The law at that time stated that the daughter was the property of her father until the daughter got married then her husband “owned” her as property. From this sympathy must be felt for Juliet because she is a victim of arranged marriages. When the play was first performed it got massive great responses which then lead to the play being transferred to The Globe theatre at the start of the 1600’s. Props and different costumes helped ...
Roman civilization is more reputable and far more established then the Gothic culture at this time. Because of this Roman superiority is used as an excuse of behavior and action due to the fact that this notion of civility somehow correlates with just action. As the play progresses the question of true civility is more and more convoluted. Horrific events unfold at the hand of “justice” and “fairness.” The most blatant example of this is the murder of Alarbus and captivity of his mother, Tamora. “Give us the proudest prisone...
While Romulus is credited for exemplifying many of Rome;’s fundamental values, his reign over Rome is one that is infamous for its abundant bloodshed, violence against Rome’s neighbouring cities and demonstrations of his accumulated power. In comparison to Romulus’ rule, King Numa Pompilius reign is filled with undisturbed peace and coexistence in Rome and its neighbouring communities. Romulus often resorts to utilizing methods like violence or deceit to achieve his aspirations for the glory of Rome. One of the very first of Romulus’ acts of violence “to obtain sole power” (Livy 37) is to brutally murder his own twin brother, Remus in an angry fit of rage. The murder of Remus is a reflection of Romulus’ violent, ruthless nature and demonstrates the drastic measures he will go to achieve ultimate power. “To increase the dignity and impressiveness of his [ki...
Rome had just finished having a war with the Goths, and as a result of this, Titus’s sons were killed in the war. They were to execute Alarbus because Titus wanted to sacrifice a traitor for the lost lives of his sons. Tamora begs Titus not to kill her son, but Titus insists that he can't do anything about it because it will please the gods as the sacrifice would make up for his sons’ deaths in war. This would result in Tamora being furious towards Titus for what he has done. Tamora would get her revenge towards Titus with the help of Aaron, her secret lover. She constructs a devious plan with Aaron, which would lead Titus to lose his sanity, resulting in Titus to be murdered by
Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is a film that converts Shakespeare’s famous play into a present-day setting. The film transforms the original texts into modern notions, whilst still employing Shakespearean language. Compared to Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Luhrmann’s picture is easier for a teenage audience to understand and relate to because of his modernisations. Despite the passing of four centuries Shakespeare’s themes of love, hate, violence, family and mortality remain the same regardless of the setting.
Baz Lurhmann’s creation of the film Romeo and Juliet has shown that today’s audience can still understand and appreciate William Shakespeare. Typically, when a modern audience think of Shakespeare, they immediately think it will be boring, yet Lurhmann successfully rejuvenates Romeo and Juliet. In his film production he uses a number of different cinematic techniques, costumes and a formidably enjoyable soundtrack; yet changes not one word from Shakespeare’s original play, thus making it appeal to a modern audience.
The premise of the play Titus Andronicus can be easily summed up in one word. That word is simply ‘honor’. Honor means a different thing today than it did during the Roman Empire or Shakespeare’s life, but it is important to know honor’s definition in order to understand Titus Andronicus. Honor was used to justify murdering multiple times throughout the play. Titus killed two of his own children to protect his honor. Titus’s honor was also destroyed by Lavinia being raped and mutilated and Aaron tricking Titus into cutting off his hand, an important symbol of his honor. The word ‘honor’ has a huge impact on the play Titus Andronicus.
Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus has many theatrical elements that aid in creating an interpretation of the written play. One of the most prominent elements that Taymor uses is color. Taymor uses color to develop Shakespeare’s characters. Many times throughout the film, color is used to represent a character’s mood or their hidden agenda during a scene. We also see color used to represent good versus evil. The three colors that are most widely used during the movie to show symbolism and imagery are black, white, and red. While there are some references to color in the written text of Titus Andronicus, Taymor’s use of color allows the viewers to see a more clear representation of mood, tone, and character. The colors may be used in costume or in setting. Regardless of how they are used each color plays a large role in distinguishing the tone that is being set for a scene or character.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
In Sarah Kane's Blasted, a woman and a man are raped on stage, eyeballs and dead babies are consumed and a man shoots himself through the head. In Edward Bond's Lear, several men and women are shot, a man is severly beaten and another is blinded, and the body of a woman is disected on stage. Both Kane and Bond claim that the use of violence on stage is vital for the message they want to get across. Harold Pinter, however, seems to deliver the same message by referring to violence without actually displaying it on stage. By looking at the authors' reasons for staging violence, questioning the effect on the play's audience and the plausability and necessity of the violent acts on stage, it can be said that the portrayal of physical violence on stage is a hallmark of shallow melodrama, gratuitously pandering to the sensationalism of the audience.
Through the reading several connections were made, by way of examples, of how Shakespeare used violence to add to the mood or idea he wanted to bring to his audience. In reviewing Shakespeare’s work, are we can find that at one time or another the use of warfare, murder, suicide, rape, mutilation, and or canabolism were all used as a main ideas. The trouble is that while we can only speculate the reasons from the use of this violence, we will never know the full purpose Shakespeare had in mind when writing. There are, however, several conclusions to be pondered. One ideas is that Shakespeare was simply writing to fit the attitudes of his time. People of his time thought of woman and the poor as less than, so Shakespeare wrote them as such. He could take the idea of stereotypical behaviors, and play them to extreme measures. Another conclusion is that he would use violence as a form of empowerment of the weak, against the strong, in the way of political violence and intolerance.
While the brutal quest for vengeance drives Kyd's play, justice is ultimately its main thematic concern: what is it, who has the right to administer it, and is any sacrifice too great for its final attainment? (Hunter, 217) Central to these questions is the pair of hangings that occur in the middle acts of the play. Poisenings and stabbings happen throughout the piece but hanging was revloutionary. Hanging, decapitation, and burning at the stake was forbidden to be shown in a play. The reason for this is simple: the use of the official methods of execution as part of an entertainment would rob those methods of their value as deterrent to crime. (Shapiro, 100) The same argument is made today over the desensitization to violence caused by television. The Spanish Tragedy is unique in its onstage use of hanging as a device of murder.