The Other Side of the Coin

"Coal-black is better than another hue
In that it scorns to bear another hue"
(IV.ii.99-100)

I think this line is what defines Aaron's role in the play. I was not 100% sure if references about him and/or his skin were necessarily racist, but with this line he is displaying his loyalty to his color, race, and person. Even if he is considered to be a "rebel without a cause" to an extent or completely evil, he keeps his loyalty to that evilness and part of his personality just as the color black does not "bear another hue." While people like Titus, who turns on his own son and murders him, or Tamora, who demands that her child be killed, Aaron has remained true to himself by being persistently evil. He finds someone whom he can identify 100% with in his son, be it because he looks like him or simply because he is his son, and this is reason enough to defend him in any way that he can. It is interesting that someone who is perceived to be so evil can switch roles when something so dear or close to him/her is in jeopardy. Or perhaps Aaron was never truly evil and it was society's racism/discrimination against him that turned him that way just so that he could feel in a position of power, to feel like he truly mattered even if it was through killing and doing other negative things. This act definitely made me change my perception of Aaron a bit, almost to the point where I actually feel sorry for him.

Also, as a side comment, I think it is absurd that neither Marcus nor Titus thought to find a way to get Lavinia to tell them what happened to her until so much time had already passed. Why did Marcus not think to tell her to write what happened to her in the sand the day that he found her? Men are supposed to be the most intelligent and powerful, but obviously that macho power is only when it comes to violence and killing each other. These men have proven to be thoroughly incompetent otherwise.