Spelling is modernized, but older forms are very occasionally maintained where necessary for rhythm or aural effect.
Punctuation in Shakespeare's time was as much rhetorical as grammatical. "Colon" was originally a term for a unit of thought in an argument. The semicolon was a new unit of punctuation (some of the Quartos lack them altogether). We have modernized punctuation throughout, but have given more weight to Folio punctuation than many editors, since, though not Shakespearean, it reflects the usage of his period. In particular, we have used the colon far more than many editors: it is exceptionally useful as a way of indicating how many Shakespearean speeches unfold clause by clause in a developing argument that gives the illusion of enacting the process of thinking in the moment. We have also kept in mind the origin of punctuation in classical times as a way of assisting the actor and orator: the comma suggests the briefest of pauses for breath, the colon a middling one, and a full stop or period a longer pause. Semicolons, by contrast, belong to an era of punctuation that was only just coming in during Shakespeare's time and that is coming to an end now: we have accordingly only used them where they occur in our copy texts (and not always then). Dashes are sometimes used for parenthetical interjections where the Folio has brackets. They are also used for interruptions and changes in train of thought. Where a change of addressee occurs within a speech, we have used a dash preceded by a period (or occasionally another form of punctuation). Often the identity of the respective addressees is obvious from the context. When it is not, this has been indicated in a marginal stage direction.
Entrances and Exits are fairly thorough in Folio, which has accordingly been followed as faithfully as possible. Where characters are omitted or corrections are necessary, this is indicated by square brackets (e.g. "[and Attendants]"). Exit is sometimes silently normalized to Exeunt and Manet anglicized to "remains." We trust Folio positioning of entrances and exits to a greater degree than most editors.
Editorial Stage Directions such as stage business, asides, indications of addressee and of characters' position on the gallery stage are only used sparingly in Folio. Other editions mingle directions of this kind with original Folio and Quarto directions, sometimes marking them by means of square brackets. We have sought to distinguish what could be described as directorial interventions of this kind from Folio-style directions (either original or supplied) by placing them in the right margin in a smaller typeface. There is a degree of subjectivity about which directions are of which kind, but the procedure is intended as a reminder to the reader and the actor that Shakespearean stage directions are often dependent upon editorial inference alone and are not set in stone. We also depart from editorial tradition in sometimes admitting uncertainty and thus printing permissive stage directions, such as an Aside? (often a line may be equally effective as an aside or as a direct address--it is for each production or reading to make its own decision) or a may exit or a piece of business placed between arrows to indicate that it may occur at various different moments within a scene.
Line Numbers are editorial, for reference and to key the explanatory and textual notes.
Explanatory Notes allusions and gloss obsolete and difficult words, confusing phraseology, occasional major textual cruces, and so on. Particular attention is given to nonstandard usage, bawdy innuendo, and technical terms (e.g. legal and military language). Where more than one sense is given, commas indicate shades of related meaning, slashes alternative or double meanings.
Textual Notes at the end of the play indicate major departures from Folio. They take the following form: the reading of our text is given in bold and its source given after an equals sign. For Titus Andronicus "Q" indicates a reading from the First Quarto of 1594, "Q2" a reading from the Second Quarto of 1600, "F2" a correction that derives from the Second Folio of 1632, "F3" a correction introduced in the Third Folio of 1663-64, "F4" a correction from the Fourth Folio of 1685, and "Ed" one that derives from the subsequent editorial tradition. The rejected Folio ("F") reading is then given. Thus for Titus Act 2 Scene 1 line 22: "nymph = Q. F = Queene" means that the Folio text's "Queene" has been rejected in favor of the Quarto's "nymph," as the repetition of "queen" in Aaron's speech would appear to be a compositorial error. There are no Quarto texts for Timon of Athens, thus "F2" indicates a correction introduced in the Second Folio of 1632, "F3" a correction introduced in the Third Folio of 1663-64, "F4" one from the Fourth Folio of 1685, and "Ed" a correction introduced by a later editor.
KEY FACTS:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
AUTHORSHIP: Mostly by Shakespeare, but the first act and possibly the beginning of the second and fourth acts have the stylistic marks of GEORGE PEELE. It is not known whether this was an active collaboration or whether Shakespeare took over an older play by Peele and revised the later acts much more thoroughly than the first one. Francis Meres in 1598 and the 1623 Folio editors had no hesitation in attributing the play to Shakespeare.
MAJOR PARTS: (with percentage of lines/number of speeches/scenes on stage) Titus Andronicus (28%/117/9), Aaron the Moor (14%/57/6), Marcus Andronicus (12%/63/9), Tamora (10%/49/5), Saturninus (8%/49/5), Lucius (7%/51/4), Demetrius (4%/39/7), Bassianus (3%/14/3), Lavinia (2%/15/3), Chiron (2%/30/6), Young Lucius (2%/11/4).
LINGUISTIC MEDIUM: 98% verse, 2% prose.
DATE: 1591/92, perhaps revised 1594? Performed at the Rose in January 1594 and marked by the theater manager as "ne," possibly meaning "new." Title page of first published edition, also 1594, seems to imply performance by three successive companies (see "Text," below), suggesting staging before theaters were closed due to the plague for the second half of 1592 and nearly all of 1593. Perhaps the first two companies performed an old version by Peele and the 1594 performance and text were newly revised by Shakespeare.
SOURCES: The story is not historical. An anonymous chapbook narrative, once thought to be the source, is almost certain to be a derivative text rather than a source, so it must be assumed either that there is a lost source or that the plot is freely invented, while drawing on a range of Roman materials, both historical and poetic--most notably the tragedies of Seneca and Ovid's story of Progne's revenge on the tyrant Tereus for the rape of her sister Philomel (Metamorphoses book 6, used as a prop and plot device in Act 4 Scene 1). There is also a strong influence from other tragedies of the period, notably Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy (c.1589, especially for the revenger as a self-consciously theatrical performer) and Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta (c.1591, for Aaron's delight in his own villainy).
TEXT: published in Quarto as The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: As it was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex their Seruants (1594, reprinted 1600 and 1611). A good-quality text, perhaps printed from Shakespeare's manuscript, though with one or two signs of revision in the process of composition (some false starts and the possibility that the killing of both Alarbus and Mutius in the first act were late additions--could these be Shakespearean revisions to Peele's original?). The Second Quarto, which included some good corrections, was printed from a damaged copy of the First Quarto, resulting in some changes to the wording of the final scene and the addition of four new lines at the very end of the play. The Folio text was printed from a copy of the Third Quarto, incorporating both corrections and errors from the Second and Third Quartos; it introduced many new errors of its own, because it was mostly typeset by "Compositor E," the one genuinely incompetent agent in the creation of the First Folio. The principal value of the Folio text is that it introduces stage directions, presumably derived from the theatrical promptbook, and adds one complete new scene (Act 3 Scene 2, the fly-killing banquet). Most modern editions are based on the First Quarto, but with the banquet inserted from Folio. In accordance with our practice of beginning from Folio and avoiding the conflation of discrete texts, we depart from this tradition and edit the Folio text, though with frequent emendation in places where the text is erroneous, principally as a result o
f the shoddy work of "Compositor E." Since they appear in the Folio, the Second Quarto's extra four lines at the end are included, but they are marked with curly brackets to indicate that they are an addition that seems to derive from the printing shop rather than the playhouse.
TITUS ADRONICUS AND TIMON OF ATHENS
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Romans
SATURNINUS the deceased Emperor's eldest son, who succeeds as Emperor BASSIANUS, his brother
TITUS Andronicus, a noble general
LAVINIA, his daughter
his sons
LUCIUS
QUINTUS
MARTIUS
MUTIUS
MARCUS, his brother, a Tribune of the people
BOY/YOUNG LUCIUS, son of Lucius
PUBLIUS, son of Marcus Andronicus
Kinsmen of Titus
SEMPRONIUS
CAIUS
VALENTINE
EMILLIUS
A CAPTAIN
A MESSENGER
A NURSE
A CLOWN
A LORD
Senators, Tribunes, Soldiers and Attendants
Goths
TAMORA, Queen of the Goths, later Empress of Rome, married to Saturninus
her sons
ALARBUS
DEMETRIUS
CHIRON
AARON, a Moor, Tamora's lover Soldiers
Act 1 Scene 1
running scene 1
Flourish. Enter the Tribunes and Senators, aloft. And then enter Saturninus and his followers at one door [below], and Bassianus and his followers at the other, with Drum and Colours
SATURNINUS Noble patricians, patrons1 of my right, Defend the justice of my cause with arms.
And countrymen, my loving followers,
Plead my successive4 title with your swords.
I was the first-born son that5 was the last That wore the imperial diadem6 of Rome: Then let my father's honours7 live in me, Nor wrong mine age with this indignity.
BASSIANUS Romans, friends, followers, favourers of my right, If ever Bassianus, Caesar's son,
Were gracious11 in the eyes of royal Rome, Keep then this passage to the Capitol,12
And suffer not13 dishonour to approach Th'imperial seat, to virtue consecrate,14
To justice, continence15 and nobility: But let desert in pure election16 shine, And, Romans, fight for freedom in your choice.
Enter Marcus Andronicus, aloft, with the crown
MARCUS Princes, that strive by factions and by friends Ambitiously for rule and empery,19
Know that the people of Rome, for whom we stand
A special party, have by common voice21
In election for the Roman empery,
Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius23
For many good and great deserts24 to Rome: A nobler man, a braver warrior,
Lives not this day within the city walls.
He by the senate is accited27 home From weary wars against the barbarous Goths,
That29 with his sons, a terror to our foes, Hath yoked30 a nation strong, trained up in arms.
Ten years are spent since first he undertook
This cause of Rome and chastised with arms
Our enemies' pride: five times he hath returned
Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons
In coffins from the field,
And now at last, laden with horror's spoils,
Returns the good Andronicus to Rome,
Renowned Titus, flourishing38 in arms.
Let us entreat, by honour of his name,39
Whom worthily you would have now succeed,
And in the Capitol and senate's right,
Whom you pretend42 to honour and adore, That you withdraw you and abate your strength,
Dismiss your followers and, as suitors44 should, Plead your deserts45 in peace and humbleness.
SATURNINOS How fair46 the tribune speaks to calm my thoughts!
BASSIANUS Marcus Andronicus, so I do affy47
In thy uprightness and integrity,
And so I love and honour thee and thine,
Thy noble brother Titus and his sons,
And her to whom my thoughts are humbled all,51
Gracious Lavinia, Rome's rich ornament,
That I will here dismiss my loving friends,
And to my fortunes and the people's favour
Commit my cause in balance to be weighed.
Exeunt [his] Soldiers
SATURNINUS Friends, that have been thus forward in56 my right, I thank you all and here dismiss you all,
And to the love and favour of my country
Commit myself, my person and the cause.
[Exeunt his Soldiers]
Rome, be as just and gracious unto me
As I am confident and kind61 to thee.
Open the gates and let me in.
BASSIANUS Tribunes, and me, a poor competitor.63
Flourish. They [Saturninus and Bassianus] go up into the senate house. Enter a Captain
CAPTAIN Romans, make way: the good Andronicus, Patron of virtue, Rome's best champion,65
Successful in the battles that he fights,
With honour and with fortune is returned
From whence he circumscribed68 with his sword And brought to yoke, the enemies of Rome.
Sound drums and trumpets, and then enter two of Titus' sons [Martius and Mutius]. After them, two men bearing a coffin covered with black, then two other sons [Lucius and Quintus]. After them, Titus Andronicus, and then Tamora, Queen of Goths, and her two sons Chiron and Demetrius, with Aaron the Moor and others, as many as can be. They set down the coffin and Titus speaks
TITUS Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!70
Lo, as the bark71 that hath discharged his freight Returns with precious lading72 to the bay From whence at first she weighed her anchorage,73
Cometh Andronicus, bound with laurel boughs,
To resalute his country with his tears,
Tears of true joy for his return to Rome.
Thou77 great defender of this Capitol, Stand gracious to78 the rites that we intend.
Romans, of five and twenty valiant sons,
Half of the number that King Priam80 had, Behold the poor remains, alive and dead!
These that survive, let Rome reward with love:
These that I bring unto their latest83 home, With84 burial amongst their ancestors.
Here Goths have given me leave85 to sheathe my sword.
Titus, unkind and careless86 of thine own, Why suffer'st thou thy sons unburied yet
To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx?88
Make way to lay them by their brethren.
They open the tomb
There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,90
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars.
O sacred receptacle of my joys,
Sweet cell93 of virtue and nobility, How many sons of mine hast thou in store,
That thou wilt never render to me more!95
LUCIUS Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths, That we may hew97 his limbs, and on a pile Ad manus fratrum98 sacrifice his flesh Before this earthly prison of their bones,
That so the shadows100 be not unappeased, Nor we disturbed with prodigies101 on earth.
TITUS I give him you, the noblest that survives, The eldest son of this distressed queen.
|Kneels|
TAMORA Stay, Roman brethren, gracious104 conqueror, Victorious Titus, rue105 the tears I shed, A mother's tears in passion106 for her son: And if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my sons to be as dear to me.
Sufficeth not109 that we are brought to Rome To beautify thy triumphs110 and return, Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke?
But must my sons be slaughtered in the streets
For valiant doings in their country's cause?
O, if to fight for king and commonweal
Were piety in thine, it is in these.
Andron
icus, stain not thy tomb with blood.
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful:
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.
Thrice-noble Titus, spare my first-born son.
TITUS Patient121 yourself, madam, and pardon me.
These are the brethren whom you Goths beheld
Alive and dead, and for their brethren slain
Religiously they ask a sacrifice:
To this your son is marked, and die he must,
To appease their groaning shadows that are gone.
LUCIUS Away with him, and make a fire straight,127
And with our swords, upon a pile of wood,
Let's hew his limbs till they be clean129 consumed.
Exeunt Sons [Lucius, Quintus, Martius and Mutius] with Alarbus
Rises
TAMORA O cruel, irreligious piety!
CHIRON Was ever Scythia131 half so barbarous?
DEMETRIUS Oppose132 not Scythia to ambitious Rome.
Alarbus goes to rest and we survive
To tremble under Titus' threat'ning looks.
Then, madam, stand resolved, but hope withal135
The self-same gods that armed the Queen of Troy136
With opportunity of sharp137 revenge Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent
May favour Tamora, the Queen of Goths --
When Goths were Goths and Tamora was queen --
To quit141 the bloody wrongs upon her foes.
Enter the Sons of Andronicus again
LUCIUS See, lord and father, how we have performed Our Roman rites: Alarbus' limbs are lopped,