Who is to Blame?: Justifying Violence in Titus Andronicus
Who is to Blame?: Justifying Violence in Titus Andronicus

Author(s): Begüm Tuğlu Atamer
Subject(s): British Literature
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Who is to Blame; Justifying violence; Titus Andronicus;
Summary/Abstract: It is quite clear that Titus Andronicus is not a play for the faint-hearted. Violence takes the form of physical, mental, and verbal expressions throughout the play, shocking its audience since it was first performed around the end of the sixteenth century. The play opens with a proposition to the worthy soldier Titus Andronicus: Will he choose to “help set a head on headless Rome”? (1.1.186). Rome being defined as a mutilated body from the very beginning of the play signals to what extent its citizens will suffer from the chaos ruling over it. Without a king, a central figure of authority, savagery will ensue. Nonetheless, a king without competence will also lead the people to barbarism. Titus follows the ancient order of picking the eldest son Saturninus as the king, restores a ‘head’ to Rome, and thus paves the way for his own destruction.

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