Involuntary Cannibalism... and Other Slayings

"TITUS: Why there they are, both baked in this pie,
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred."
(V.iii.59-61)

These were probably my favorite lines in the play... in a very sick and twisted way. I simply cannot imagine the look on anyone's face after finding out that that tasty treat they just had was not chicken afterall. Okay, that is actually pretty disgusting.

Gross factor aside, it is interesting that Titus would choose to feed Tamora her own children rather than simply killing them and doing away with the bodies. This was most definitely taking revenge to another level, and also suits the idea of "well, you created this mess and now you fix it" very well. However, he did not seem to give her enough to take in the fact that she had just eaten her own sons before he killed her, ending her misery fairly quickly. I just figured that for someone who longed for revenge so much, he would have made her suffer for as long as possible.

Titus's killing of Lavinia was a bit strange and not really expected. Although I do believe that Lavinia continued to be miserable, killing her and saying that she was already dead after what Chiron and Demetrius did to her, officially left her with absolutely no say in the matter (no pun intended). What is to say that she had not become accustomed to her way of life and that she could appreciate life without hands and a tongue? This is probably far-fetched since I cannot imagine what it would be like to live without hands or a tongue all of a sudden, but this is a good example of full-on male dominance.

Finally, the only person that I can somewhat respect (for lack of a better word) in this play is Aaron. Out of everyone, he remained the most consistent, remaining true to himself at all times -- even when facing death. Although he did some pretty evil stuff without regret, but he definitely gets props for remaining honest through it all.