Scene I explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Violence and Brutality

  Aaron's confession details murders, rapes, and mutilations, highlighting the pervasive brutality.

• Revenge and Retribution

  Lucius leads the Goths to avenge the wrongs done to his family, and Aaron's confession fuels the desire for revenge.

• Family and Loyalty

  Lucius's loyalty to his family drives his actions, while Aaron's concern for his child shows a twisted form of familial bond.

Characters to notice

• Lucius

  Leads the Goths, captures Aaron, and negotiates for his child's life.

• Aaron

  Captured with his child, confesses his crimes, and bargains for the child's safety.

• Tamora

  Referred to as the empress and mother of Aaron's child.

• Lavinia

  Mentioned as having been raped and mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius.

• Bassianus

  Mentioned as having been murdered by Tamora's sons.

• Demetrius

  Identified as one of the rapists and murderers.

• Chiron

  Identified as one of the rapists and murderers.

• Aemilius

  Messenger from Rome proposing a parley.

Key passages

• “I have received letters from great Rome, Which signify what hate they bear their emperor And how desirous of our sight they are.”

  Lucius says he has letters from Rome showing the people hate the emperor and want the Goths to come.

  Lucius explains the political support for his invasion.

• “Peace, tawny slave, half me and half thy dam! Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art, Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look, Villain, thou mightst have been an emperor: But where the bull and cow are both milk-white, They never do beget a coal-black calf.”

  Aaron tells his baby to be quiet, noting its dark skin reveals its mixed parentage, and that if it looked like its mother it could have been emperor, but a white couple never has a black calf.

  Aaron's speech reveals his racial awareness and the child's illegitimacy.

• “I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand, And, when I had it, drew myself apart And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter: I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads; Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily, That both mine eyes were rainy like to his.”

  Aaron boasts of tricking Titus into losing his hand, then laughing at his grief when he received his sons' heads instead.

  Aaron's sadistic pleasure in Titus's suffering is emphasized.