Close Reading: Titus Andronicus Act 3 Scene 1
Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus presents a protagonist who is characterized as the quintessential soldier (military general), called Titus. Titus has laid his life down for the Roman Empire, uncompromised to his values as a protector of the Roman throne. The audience even learns that he has lost several of his sons on the battlefield but their deaths have not deterred his honour to Rome. However, in Act 3 Scene 1 of the play Titus is engaged in a dimensional shift of his character as he pleads for Martius and Quintus’ mercy (Titus’ sons) upon being accused of killing Bassianus, brother of current king to the throne, Saturninus, of which Titus’ plea suggests to the reader that it goes beyond the confines of his nobility and merits and refutes the idea that he is a one dimensional character — a soldier characterized by masculinity.
Lines 1 to 15, of Act 3 Scene 1, is a plea by Titus, to the judges and senators, concerning the accusations brought forth against Martius and Quintus. The manner in which Titus entreats those vested with the power of judgement (Tribunes) is noteworthy as it suggests that Titus is not a one dimensional character — a devout soldier to the Roman Empire — but a man significantly aware of his duties as a father too. In his opening statement Titus implores the Tribunes by addressing them in saying “grave fathers” first, before mention of their title/professions. He also specifies and reverts back to the formal address by describing them as “noble”, which may serve as a direct or indirect gesture of outreach, aimed at signalling that he and the Tribunes are very much alike. They are family men and they belong to the same social class. What this opening line thus does, is that it serves to signify an attempt by Titus, to the Tribunes, implicating that the judges should be aware of this commonality and therefore he effectively seduces them to empathise with him as he laments his feelings.
As Titus moves into the core content of his appeal to the Tribunes his choice of rhetoric reveals that he is more than just a celebrated soldier. When Titus states, “In dangerous wars while you securely slept; for all my blood in Rome’s great quarrel shed; for all the frosty nights that I have watched”, the audience learns that Titus’s rhetoric is emotional (Shakespeare 3.1.3–5). Given light of his immense love by the citizens, as a celebrated military leader, Titus could very easily use these significant merits or at the very least incorporate them into his appeal for his sons, but instead he meticulously encircles the Tribunes with his actions as a servant to the throne. Whilst Rome engaged in friction with other states and ‘they’ slept in the comfort and safety of their homes, he (Titus) went out and served his people (Shakespeare 3.1.3–5). Time spent on the battlefield deprived him of his “youth” and burdened him with cold nights, which serves as a contrast to the comfort presumably experienced by the Tribunes, whilst he was out defending the state (Shakespeare 3.1.2–5). This may be construed as an emotional emphasis on sacrifice.
However, this is not a slighted attack towards the Tribunes, or senators for that matter, because by stating that, “For two-and-twenty sons I have never wept because they died in honour’s lofty bed”, he acknowledges that death on the battlefield is inevitable therefore his tears for his other sons have been absent on those grounds. Therefore, it would be a mistake to comprehend Titus’ sacrifices as a measure of scales. The course for analysis here is not what Titus has done and what the senators and judge have or haven’t. It is the shift in characterization of Titus which the audience must be conscious of.
In the beginning of the play Titus is presented as a loyal soldier and servant to the Roman Empire but from hereon, with tears from his face, he has spoken as a father and not a general. The change lies within his actions and words. Although (at this particular time) he does not know whether the accusations against his sons are true or not, he begs for pity (mercy on his sons’ lives) (Shakespeare 3.1.8). He further cries out to the Tribunes and paints an imagery of burial when he says “let my stanch satisfy the dry earth’s appetite”, which he begs to be the substitution in place of the liquid that would be his sons’ blood (Shakespeare 3.1.14–15). Titus excessively pleads to the Tribunes that his sons be granted mercy and he cements his outcry by stating that his sons’ “sweet” (youthful) blood will only bring “shame” (humiliation” to the appetite of the earth (Shakespeare 3.1.15).
Conclusively, this plea suggests that Titus experiences a shift in characterization from the loyal and celebrated army general to that of a loving and concerned father. Therefore, what the audience learns is that Titus’s sub-personality (shift from general to father) becomes a balance of this idea of masculinity that is greatly associated with his characterization, both through battle and through interactions with other characters. His tears and plea to the tribunes therefore serve as a feminine balance to his character as it exposes the highly celebrated, brave figure as a man who is not shy to seek sympathy and empathy, and embrace his emotions, regardless of the masculine fame which surrounds him.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, W., Greenblatt, S., Cohen, W., Howard, J. E., Maus, K. E., & Gurr, A. (2008). The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton.
