TITUS ANDRONICUS was first published in 1594 (Q1), the text probably set from the author’s manuscript. It was reprinted in 1600 (Q2) and 1611 (Q3). By all accounts, the principal copy for F was Q3, but it was likely supplemented with reference to a promptbook or to some other source (perhaps a manuscript). Scene 3.2 occurs only in F. As is the case for those other Folio plays that had already seen publication, it was by comparing Q3 to F that textual historians were thus able to ascertain the (variable) accuracy of F’s compositors.
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FOLIO gives ACTS only.
ACT 1: line 1
ACT 2: line 553
ACT 3: line 1131
ACT 4: line 1540
ACT 5: line 2109
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Entrances & exits of Characters
According to their order of appearance.
• (2,375) reads “enters at line 2, exits at line 375″.
• DISGUISED as Revenge (2282,2434)
is inserted at the end of a character’s list (in this case Tamora’s) to indicate “duration” of said disguise.
• (3216 [rip 3283] 3302)
reads “enters at line 3216, dies on line 3283, corpse exits on line 3302”. RIP at the end a character’s list indicates (or confirms) his/her decease.
• PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS are capitalized.
Tribunes
(2,375) (2513,2708)
Senators
(2,375) (1132,1151)
SATURNINUS (eldest son of the Emperor of Rome & then Emperor himself)
(3,322) (333,375) (445,552) (713,732) (1000,1067) (1990,2107) (2513 [rip 2570] 2708) RIP
BASSIANUS (youngest son of the Emperor)
(4,321) (446,552) (713,732) (787 [rip 859] 935) RIP
MARCUS (brother of Titus)
(25,321) (379,552) (700,732) (1083,1130) (1195,1131) (1339,1436) (1452,1539) (1453,1677) (1865,1989) (2407,2418) (2496,2708)
Mutius (son of Titus)
(83,152) (165 [rip 325] 435) RIP
Martius & Quintus (sons of Titus)
(83,152) (165,321) (379,435) (446,552) (699,732) (941,1067) (1032,1151) RIP
LUCIUS (son of Titus)
(84,152) (165,332) (379,435) (446,552) (699,732) (1014,1067) (1158,1331) (1339,1450) (2109,2282) (2496,2708)
TITUS (a Roman general)
(84,322) (697,732) (1014,1067) (1033,1436) (1452,1539) (1543,1670) (1865,1989) (2292,2448) (2453,2495) (2525 [rip 2568] 2708) RIP
TAMORA (Queen of the Goths, wife of Saturninus)
(85,322) (333,375) (445,552) (713,732) (743,940) (1014,1067) (1990,2107) (Revenge 2282,2434) (2513 [rip 2567] 2708) RIP / DISGUISED as Revenge (2282,2434)
Alarbus (son of Tamora)
(86,152) RIP
CHIRON & DEMETRIUS (sons of Tamora)
(86,322) (333,375) (445,552) (580,698) (713,732) (829,940) (1068,1081) (1678,1855) (1990,2107) (2282 [rip 2493] 2495) RIP / DISGUISED as Rape & Murder (2282,2449)
AARON (a Moore, lover of Tamora)
(86,322) (334,375) (445,698) (733,792) (941,961) (1000,1067) (1294,1353) (1678,1864) (2130,2282) (2680,2708)
LAVINIA (daughter of Titus)
(183,321) (446,552) (713,732) (787,940) (1068,1130) (1195,1436) (1452,1539) (1541,1670) (2453,2495) (2525 [rip 2550] 2708) RIP
Judges
(1132,1151)
Messenger (bearing two heads & a hand)
(1382,1389)
Young LUCIUS
(1452,1539) (1541,1670) (1679,1696) (1865,1989) (2663,2708)
Nurse
(1732 [rip 1828] 1855) RIP
Publius / Sempronius / Caius (Kinsmen of Titus)
(1865,1989) (2438,2495)
Clowne
(1943,1987) (2032,2043) RIP
Aemilius (a Roman envoy)
(2055,2101) (2268,2282) (2513,2708)
Goths
(2109,2282) (2496,2708)
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For a long time, commentators simply refused to believe that this gruesome play was the work of Shakespeare. But TITUS ANDRONICUS is a Seneca style “Revenge tragedy” (even if it is a particularly bloody one).
The whole thing starts with an argument between SATURNINUS & BASSANIUS regarding who between them should replace their late father as Emperor. The victorious TITUS gets to choose between them. And because Titus firmly believes in primogeniture, he (very unwisely) chooses the murderous SATURNINUS (who will, for realpolitikal reasons similar to those found in Shakespeare’s HISTORIES, hold it against Titus).
The defeated queen of Goths, TAMORA, wants to avenge the death of her son ALARBUS at the hands of the Andronici. She therefore seduces Emperor SATURNINUS and, together with her moorish lover AARON, they have the emperor’s brother BASSIANUS killed and TITUS’s sons MARTIUS & QUINTUS framed for the murder. The Emperor then offers Titus to trade his two sons for Titus’s right hand (which Aaron obligingly chops off). A messenger then brings Titus the heads of his two sons.
To “top” this off, Tamora also has her remaining two sons, CHIRON & DEMETRIUS, rape and mutilate Titus’ only daughter LAVINIA (they rip-out her tongue and chop-off her hands).
To make a long story short, the play ends with Titus serving Tamora a pie baked out of her children. Then everybody kills each other. Thirteen characters in all get killed (nine of them on stage!). This being said, the play is a riot.
So, if the initial antagonism appears to be between Saturninus and Bassanius, the real beef is between TITUS and TAMORA.
Those of the TITUS / BASSANIUS camp are:
TITUS
BASSANIUS
MARCUS
MUTIUS
MARTIUS
QUINTUS
LUCIUS
Young LUCIUS
LAVINIA
Publius / Sempronius / Caius
And those of the TAMORA /SATURNINUS camp:
TAMORA
SATURNINUS
ALARBUS
CHIRON & DEMETRIUS
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TITUS is one of the five plays studied in James Calderwood’s seminal SHAKESPEAREAN METADRAMA (1971). Though Titus “may” be play-acting his madness, and the final “Banquet” be some form of inset-theatrical-device, these are not manifest per se. But, in terms of overt metatheatricality, three characters are “disguised”:
TAMORA as Revenge (2282,2434), Conscious
CHIRON & DEMETRIUS as Rape & Murder (2282,2449), Conscious