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William ShakespeareTitus Andronicus
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1594A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Critical Context: The Critical Reception of Titus Andronicus
Early Modern London was home to a thriving, fast-paced theater culture, which emerged during Elizabeth I’s reign from a web of existing social and theatrical traditions. Titus Andronicus was written during this period, probably between 1588 and 1593.
The play has been subject to extensive debate, as its quality, meaning, genre, exact date, sources, and authorship have all been questioned. Shakespeare is generally accepted as the playwright, though some scholars suggest isolated scenes may have been contributed by another person, and some have queried its overall authorship. These authorship debates reflect that both thematically and content-wise, the play is distinct from the rest of Shakespeare’s canon, such as in its use of extensive violence. The play was initially well-received, but from the 17th century onwards, its reputation worsened, with commentators criticizing the play’s violence and lack of nuance. During the second half of the 20th century, its popularity gradually grew, both for performance and as a text for scholarly analysis. Its violent elements were often reinterpreted as literary devices that actively explore genre and theme.
The play’s genre and its interaction with Elizabethan theatrical convention is a common topic of debate. It is generally categorized as a tragedy, one of the three primary genres in Elizabethan theater, alongside comedy and history. It has thematic and narrative similarities to later plays like Coriolanus, Othello, and in particular King Lear, portraying the downfall of a protagonist primarily due to his tragic flaw, which is often exploited by a villain. Critics comparing Titus Andronicus unfavorably to these later plays sometimes characterize it as a “practice” play, during which Shakespeare was honing his craft. More favorable readings suggest that Titus Andronicus examines the connection between words and action, using violence and poetry in tandem onstage while forming a deliberate, critical interaction with Elizabethan theater and Elizabethan society more broadly.
Cultural Context: Ancient Rome and Titus Andronicus
There was a broad interest in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece in Early Modern Europe, largely based around a revived interest in classical Greek and Roman texts. Ancient history was closely studied, with ancient philosophy, science, and literature forming important components of the curricula in Elizabethan grammar schools. Many Elizabethan writers adopted classical models for literature and theater in their works, such as the tragic arc or a multiple-act structure. The revenge tragedy genre in particular drew heavily on the works of Seneca, with Seneca’s Thyestes a specific source for elements of Titus Andronicus, such as how Thyestes is fed his own sons in a pie as an act of revenge.
Titus Andronicus is set in Rome but, unlike Shakespeare’s other Roman plays such as Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra, it cannot be categorized as a “Roman history play,” as its plot is entirely fictional. The Roman setting is thus more important in terms of cultural and literary impact than historical accuracy. Roman narrative texts provide source material even for the characters themselves, such as when Lavinia finds the story of Philomel in a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphosis to communicate what has happened to her.
These classical references are used by all the characters throughout the play, not just the Romans. They all inhabit the same fictional cultural sphere, which problematizes The Paradigm of “Civilized” Rome against “Barbarian” Other: The Goths and Aaron also apparently have the same classical education and draw upon these elevated myths and ideas. Shakespeare’s portrayal of the world of the play reflects the fact that the Early Modern conception of Roman history was drawn primarily from Roman sources, and so their views of the classical world were framed through a Roman perspective. Early Modern views of Rome and its enemies thus also reflected the biases and propaganda of the sources they used, adapted for their contemporary ideas.
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