The Hand Behind the Sword: Titus Andronicus and Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999) Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus uses extremely grotesque and descriptive imagery to heighten the emotional intensity of themes relating to constant revenge and chaos. A recurring motif that overwhelms this play is dismemberment. This continuous reference to mutilation of the human body symbolizes both the physical and societal breakdown of the Roman Empire. Notably, Taymor’s adaptation of Titus takes Shakespeare’s narrative to the extremes, using surreal and stylized depictions of body dismemberment to highlight the play’s thematic focus that with the motives of the pursuit of power comes drastic outcomes. With that being said, Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus recurring imagery reviews the powerful symbolism of the physical and moral disintegration caused by revenge, as Julie Taymor’s Titus (1999) intensifies this motif through abstract and stylized visuals to highlight this overwhelming idea of ultimate destruction and repetitive nature of violence to acquire and sustain authority at a royal level. …show more content…
In this scene, Titus Andronicus serves up a pie made up of Tamora’s sons, Chiron and Demetrius. This was a result of the brothers taking advantage and horrifically abusing Titus’ only daughter, Lavinia. TAMORA Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus? TITUS Not I; ’twas Chiron and Demetrius. They ravished her and cut away her tongue, And they, ’twas they, that did her all this wrong. SATURNINUS Go fetch them hither to us. TITUS Why, there they are, both bakèd in this pie, Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. ’Tis true, ’tis true! Witness my knife’s sharp point. This imagery of dismemberment explores the dehumanizing effects of
Julie Taymor’s Titus Andronicus 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
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
William Shakespeare's play, Titus Andronicus, is a very convoluted play that could have easily failed to connect with its audience when first performed on stage. With poor props, setting and theatrical effects, Shakespeare’s major themes in the play could easily have been lost on the audience. Over four hundred years after it opened at The Globe Theatre, film director, Julie Taymor used techniques including time travel, costume choice and a mixture of ancient Roman and contemporary artifacts to emphasize
Ancient and Modern Elements in Julie Taymor's Adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus Roman coliseum . . . Formica kitchen Armored warrior . . . Armored tank Gregorian Chant . . . Hard Rock White toga . . . Metallic business suit Ancient Rome . . . Modern America At first glance, these categories appear entirely incompatible, unable to exist together. However, in Julie Taymor's adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, we find that they are compatible after all. With
Julie Taymor’s presentation of violence in Titus differs and compares to Shakespeare’s presentation of violence in Titus Andronicus; the following paper will discuss and analyze three major scenes where this comparison can be made. Taymor’s presentation of violence is broadcasted in scene one. She not only presents violence, but forces emotions onto the viewer by using other characters reactions as tools to subliminally tell the viewer how they too should react to what occurs in the film. Shakespeare