Titus Andronicus

Synopsis

"Titus Andronicus" is one of William Shakespeare's earliest and most gruesome tragedies, set in the final days of the Roman Empire. The play opens with General Titus Andronicus triumphantly returning to Rome after defeating the Goths and capturing their Queen, Tamora, and her sons. Despite Tamora's pleas for mercy, Titus sacrifices her eldest son to avenge his own fallen sons, igniting a cycle of vengeance.

Tamora, now the Roman Empress through a quick marriage to the unstable Emperor Saturninus, schemes with her lover, the cunning Moor Aaron, to destroy Titus and his family. A brutal series of events unfolds: Titus's daughter Lavinia is assaulted and mutilated by Tamora’s sons, and two of Titus's sons are framed and executed. As his family is systematically destroyed, Titus descends into apparent madness but ultimately orchestrates a horrific revenge. The climax sees Titus serving Tamora a pie made of her sons before slaying her and being stabbed by Saturninus, who is then killed by Titus’s surviving son, Lucius.

The play ends with Lucius restoring order as the new Emperor, embodying a stark and haunting meditation on revenge, power, and the cyclical nature of violence.