The story is based on Titus Andronicus Rome’s finest warrior he returns after 10 years of fighting the Goths he captures Tamora, Aaron and Tamoras three sons. Tamoras oldest son is sacrificed by Titus and this infuriates Tamora to the point where she wants to destroy all of Titus’ family this view can be supported by the quote “Rome reputes to be a heinous sin, yield at entreats; and then let me alone I’ll find a day to massacre them all And raze their faction and their family” she sets about killing Titus’ family one by one, she starts with Titus’ daughter Tamora allows her sons to rape Lavinia and then mutilate her by cutting out her tongue and removing her arms.

She is then guilty of commissioning the act of the beheading of Titus’ sons in return for his sons Titus removes one of his hands but instead receives son’s heads and his own hand. However Titus does get revenge in the end he kills Tamoras sons and then bakes them into a pie Tamora then eats the pie at a banquet in the final scene Titus then stands up and tells Tamora what is in the pie and then stabs Lavinia and then Tamora, Titus is then killed by saturninus. The next day saturninus orders Aaron to be buried alive as Tamora had borne his child.

Revenge is the act of hunting or harming someone in return for injury or wrong suffered at their hands. Revenge is always been a poison to the mind ever since humans have grasped the concept of revenge.

Revenge is presented in Titus Andronicus through several acts of gory, bitter and unclean acts of violence these consist of rape, murder and beheading.  The person who is responsible for most of these acts is Tamora, she is responsible for the rape of Lavinia and her mutilation, the beheading of Titus’ sons and the act of Titus cutting his own hand off in exchange for his sons but he receives his sons head instead. The trigger to all of the acts of revenge in the play is the beheading of one of Tamoras sons.

One of the most horrific acts of revenge in the play is the rape and mutilation of Lavinia it is started by Titus Andronicus arranging a huge hunt in the woods. Chiron and Demetrius then follow Lavinia they wait until she is alone and then Tamora appears and talks to Lavinia, Lavinia begs for her not to be raped and just to be killed, Tamora says no and she walks away Lavinia is raped and then her hands and tongue are cut off.

Shakespeare infers to the myth of Philomela in which Philomela is raped by tereus, tereus is Philomela sisters husband, tereus rapes Philomela and then cuts her tongue out, also further on in the play Titus Andronicus and Lavinia are in a Library reading Lavinia coincidentally ends up reading the myth of Philomela she shows Titus that she is like Philomela but worse. The act of Lavinia s mutilation can also be interpreted as Lavinia being deprived of her freedom of speech.

Another act of revenge is displayed through he beheading of Titus’ sons, they are beheaded due to the fact that they were framed for the murder of Bassianus and by Roman law they are to be put on trial and if found Guilty they would be executed, the two pieces of evidence that are gathered are a letter and a bag of gold coins.  Titus is told that in exchange for his sons he has to cut off his hand, and get someone to give it to Tamora Titus’ hand is delivered to Tamora and in exchange Titus gets his sons heads and his hand back.  The word hunting brings images of rich men going into the woods with rifles and coming back with handfuls of birds, however in Titus Andronicus the word hunt or hunting becomes a metaphor for the kind of predatory violence that characters engage in.

Eventually Titus gets his own revenge by killing Tamoras sons Titus was able to do so due to the fact that Tamora and her two sons dress up as god-like figures and Titus realizes who they are but carry’s on with the act of being mad. Titus sends Tamora to find her sons in the city and she leaves, Titus then asks Chiron and Demetrius to stay with him he then tells Chiron and Demetrius that he knows who they are he then calls Lavinia to see who he has captured he then kills Chiron and Demetrius and crushes their bones and mixes it with their blood into a paste and then bakes it into a pie he then feeds Tamora the pie and when Tamora has finished the pie he then tells Tamora what was in the pie he then stabs Lavinia and then Tamora and then saturninus kills Titus.

In conclusion, I believe that revenge is presented in multiple different ways throughout the duration of the play Titus Andronicus whether it be rape, murder, mutilation, beheading or dismembering of limbs it is always present throughout the duration of this horrific play.  This Shakespeare production also shows how revenge pollutes the mind and make the person instantaneously turn to violence, it also shows how sub-consciously every human fights for power and authority when they are in certain situations, Tamora is a prime example of this not only does she want to avenge her sons death but she also want to have authority and power over Titus for defeating her and her army in the ten years that Titus had been away from Rome, Titus’ victory over Tamora could be interpreted as Titus stripping Tamora of her status as the queen of the Goths.  throughout the play the characters never look for a peaceful solution they instantaneously turn towards violence.  Tamora is also having an affair with Aaron this is evident in the last scene when Aaron is nearly hung by a tree he saves himself by telling saturninus how he manipulated the whole outcome of the play how he put the idea of raping Lavinia into the minds of Chiron and Demetrius.  In a sense Aaron could be seen as revenge in human form, constantly telling you to do things that don’t come naturally to the human mind.