“Titus Andronicus” Discussion
Details
Minneapolis Central Library: Room N-202.
There is underground parking beneath the library, off 4th St. S., for about $5. Go in to the Library lobby and then in to the book stacks area. Take the elevator or stairs up to the 2nd floor, then go all the way to the left.
This is a discussion about the play, not a reading or showing of it.
She is a woman, therefore may be wooed:
She is a woman, therefore may be won:
She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved.
– Demetrius, in Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 1
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
– Aaron, in Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 3
I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
– Aaron, in Titus Andronicus, Act 5, Scene 1
O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.
– Marcus, in Titus Andronicus, Act 5, Scene 3
SYNOPSIS (from the Folger Library)
• Titus Andronicus overflows with death and violence. Twenty-one sons of the Roman general Titus Andronicus have died in battle, leaving four alive. After defeating the Goths, Titus permits the sacrifice of the oldest son of their queen, Tamora.
• Titus helps Saturninus become emperor. Saturninus plans to marry Titus’s daughter, Lavinia. Instead, she marries Bassianus, aided by Titus’s sons, one of whom Titus kills. Saturninus then marries Tamora. The stage is set for multiple revenge plots.
• Tamora’s lover, Aaron the Moor, instructs her two sons to kill Bassianus, then falsely implicates two of Titus’s sons. Tamora’s sons also rape Lavinia, cutting off her tongue and hands. To save his sons from execution, Titus cuts off his own hand, but Aaron sends him their heads.
• Lucius, Titus’s last son, leads an army of Goths against Rome. Titus kills Tamora’s sons and serves them to her in a pie. In the ensuing events, Lavinia, Tamora, Titus, and Saturninus all die. Lucius becomes emperor and sentences Aaron to death.
FREE VIDEOS - FULL PLAY (YOUTUBE)
• Movie (Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Julie Taymor) (1999)
• Seoul Shakespeare Company (2015)
• Shakespeare by the Sea (2020)
FREE VIDEOS - OTHER (YOUTUBE)
• Tim Nance: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Discussion and Summary
• The Making Of Titus [Andronicus], Interview with Anthony Hopkins (1999)
KANOPY APP
Download the free app. Then link your library account to it. This will allow you free access to many Shakespeare plays. You can also watch the Shakespeare series “Upstart Crow” for free.
ARTICLES
• Wikipedia: Titus Andronicus
• About Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine
• A Modern Perspective: Titus Andronicus, by Alexander Leggatt
• Further Reading: Titus Andronicus
PODCAST
• Shakespeare Unlimited podcast and transcript: Black Lives Matter in Titus Andronicus
GENERAL RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
• The Folger Shakespeare Library has free and paid (includes notes) downloadable texts of all of Shakespeare’s plays.
• The Folger Library: Shakespeare Documented has copies of original documents from Shakespeare’s time.
• PlayShakespeare: The Ultimate Free Shakespeare Research
• Podcast: “Approaching Shakespeare”
• Podcast: “Shakespeare Unlimited” Play by Play
• SparkNotes 101: Shakespeare [Excellent synopses of all the plays.]
• Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber [Excellent analysis of all the plays.]
FACEBOOK PAGES
• The Official William Shakespeare Page
• Shakespeare Study Group
• William Shakespeare: His Works and His World
APP
• Shakespeare App
BEST SHAKESPEARE USED BOOK SELECTIONS IN THE TWIN CITIES
• Midway Books, St. Paul
• The Book House, Minneapolis
• James & Mary Laurie Booksellers, Minneapolis
• Magers and Quinn, Minneapolis
• Half Price Books