Titus
Titus Andronicus is known as being one of Shakespeare’s most violent plays. Rape, murder, cannibalism, mutilation, all in the backdrop of political intrigue makes this, in my opinion, one of Shakespeare’s better plays, even though it is one of his earliest works. None of this is original, but then Shakespeare is well known for borrowing heavily from many contemporary and classical stories. Titus Andronicus is borrowed heavily from Seneca’s Thyestes and Ovid’s Procne and Philomene. This movie, based on Titus Andronicus, takes this incredibly violent play and works in a very contemporary theme, and that is our lust for violence. I will discuss the original play, which the film has reworked, and will then discuss the movie.
Titus Andronicus is about a Roman general who has just returned from an extended campaign in the land of the Goths, and with him he has brought the Queen of the Goths (Tamora) and her three sons as prisoners. As is expected in a victory celebration, one of the prisoners is sacrificed to the gods, and Titus chooses Tamora’s eldest son. Tamora pleads unsuccessfully, and when the new emperor of Rome, Saturninus, releases Tamora and her sons, Tamora vows revenge against Titus.
Titus Andronicus is considered by some a political commentary. It creates a contrast between the barbarism of the Gothic society and the relative civilisation of the Romans, but when we view the actions of the main characters, we see little contrast between the civility of the empires. The allegedly civilised Roman empire is just as violent as the Goths, such as Titus, in a fit of rage, killing his own son, and later of feeding the son’s of Tamora to Tamora and the emperor. Yet the Goths are not portrayed as being more civilised, since Tamora’s sons, provoked by the moor Aaron (a character which seems to appear in other Shakespearean plays such as Othello), killed the emperor’s brother, Basilleus, and arrange for two of Titus’ sons to be executed for the murder.
The play is set in the backdrop of the collapse of the Roman Empire, but as with a lot of Shakespearean plays, there is no definite historical period in which it can be placed. There was no Saturninus who was emperor of Rome, nor is there any historical evidence that such an event occurred. Even with Shakespeare’s histories, such as Henry V, and even Richard III (if one is to consider this to be a history) there is an incredible movement away from the events to develop the themes that Shakespeare wishes to create within the play.
This play is about vengeance, something which is seen in plays such as Hamlet, and none of the main characters have any redeeming features about them. This is contrasted with many of Shakespeare’s later plays where the characters seem to be torn between their duty and the morality of their acts. Titus shows no apprehension in committing the acts that he does, nor does Tamora or her sons. These characters despise each other, and desire to see each of them pay for the pain that they have inflicted upon each other. Titus’ fury does not fully erupt until he learns of Tamora’s involvement in the desecration of his daughter and the execution of her sons. Until that time he views the sacrifice of her son as something that needed to be done, a thanksgiving offering to the gods for victory in battle.
The movie, Titus, though following the themes developed in the play, lays another theme over the top, and that is humanity’s lust for violence. The movie opens in a strange way, with a boy sitting at his breakfast table with his toys. The boy then grabs the toys and begins to smash them into everything, and covering everything with sauce (symbolically showing the spilling of blood). The boy, of an indeterminate age, seems to do this naturally, wishing to destroy everything, and is all too willing to spill blood. The boy is present throughout the play, though speaks only in one scene, where he takes the role of Titus’ grandson.
The movie is very symbolical, and like many of Shakespeare’s plays, does not conform to any period of history. As the credits roll, we watch as the Roman soldiers, caked in mud, walk into the arena after being victorious in battle. We watch the soldiers march in and then see some come in on motor cycles, and some very interesting vehicles, looking like they came straight from a Mad Max movie. It is this timeless feeling that takes us away from the story and the plot and focuses our attention on the themes. I have seen a similar style used in the film adaptation of Richard III (set in what I call Nazi England), and it is a style that if done well, is brilliant. They attempted to do the same thing in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, but it was not as effective as it was done in this film or Richard III.
The arena plays an important part of the film, though most of the action is not played out there (or so we are led to believe). The arena symbolises violence at its baselessness. The ancient arena was simply where people went to watch people kill for little reason other than victory. Much blood was spilt, and unlike the boxing or wrestling rings of today, the action was not fake, and few people walked out alive. By focusing this around the arena, we come to understand that much of the violence occurs without a reason, if only for vengeance. None of the violence in the play solves any problems, but rather acts as a motive for inflicting further violence upon people. It is only when the last person is slain, that the violence ends, and the new emperor of Rome, Lucius, decrees that Aaron the moor is not to be slain, but to be buried up to his neck to be glared at by all those who pass by (and the way his hands are bound to a cross bar reflects the crucifixion).
The final scene of the movie shows that something did come out of the movie, and it was as a result of the violence. The boy, who at the beginning of the movie, was succumbing simply to his base violent urges, takes the illegitimate baby of Tamora and the Moor, and carries it out of the arena. The baby is carried out of the arena in a paternal pose, showing that the boy, who has witnessed all of the violence unfold around him, has turned his back on it, seeing that its only result is a violent end.
Though there is far more that I can say about this movie, and the more I think about some of the images that are portrayed in the movie, the more I see how the director is developing the theme, I will stop here. Titus is a brilliant movie, and for those who like Shakespeare, or even films that relies heavily on images to develop an idea, will be very satisfied with Titus. To go on would mean that I would be continually repeating myself, so I will simply say see it for yourself.
David Sarkies
