Many scholars and critics see Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, believed by many to be his first tragedy, as an emulation of the bloody and gory revenge comedies that were prominent and made popular during the sixteenth century. The plot of the play is driven entirely by revenge; when one of the characters is wronged, he immediately turns to revenge to obtain a solution, which continues cyclically throughout the work. Sir Francis Bacon once called revenge “a kind of savage justice”; however, it is not justice that the characters in Titus Andronicus seek. Justice provides balance, is achieved through logic, is neutral, and brings closure. Revenge, on the other hand, causes damage, is achieved through emotions, is driven by self-centeredness and cyclically leads to further revenge. With these definitions in mind, revenge becomes the antithesis of justice, and through careful analysis of Tamora and Titus' responses to the tragedy, it quickly becomes apparent that the characters in Titus Andronicus are ultimately seeking revenge, not "savage justice." to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Justice restores balance, while revenge is intended to cause pain and injury to others, both physically and emotionally. Throughout Titus Andronicus, characters plot to physically harm each other in order to gain retribution for the wrongdoings of others. The first example readers see of this occurs in the very first scene. After returning from battle with Tamora and her sons in tow, Titus states that his eldest son, Alarbus, must be sacrificed (1.1.102-103). At this point Tamora begins to cry, falling to her knees and begging Titus to spare her son (1.1.104-120). However, Titus proceeds with the sacrifice and Alarbus is killed, beginning this play's cycle of revenge. After becoming the fiancée of the future emperor, Saturninus, Tamora begins to plot: I will find a day to massacre them all, and raze their faction and their family to the ground, the cruel father and his traitorous sons whom I have sued. the life of my dear son, and let him know what it is to let a queen kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain (1.1.447-452). Through her use of the word “slaughter,” the reader can infer that Tamora fully intends to hurt, and quite possibly kill, Titus and his family, rooting her plan for revenge in pain and wounds. He doesn't just want Titus to feel the emotional weight of killing a child; she also wants him to be hurt physically and in a rather bloody way, showing that she is looking for revenge rather than justice. This notion of revenge rooted in pain and hurt runs through the entire play and can then be seen again in the fifth act. Similar to Tamora, Titus also plots revenge enriched with damage when he confronts Demetrius and Chiron, Tamora's sons, who raped and mutilated Lavinia, his only daughter. After convincing Tamora, dressed as “Vendetta,” to let her children stay with him after his exit, Titus binds and gags them and invites Lavinia into the room with a basin (5.2.159-160). After grabbing a knife, Tito goes into a monologue, part of which becomes quite gory: "This hand is still left to cut your throat, / While Lavinia between her stumps holds / The pelvis that receives your guilty blood" ( 5.2.180-183). Here, Titus makes Demetrius and Chiron fully aware that he is about to kill them without mercy. He is not only carrying out this revenge to make amends for the crimes committed against Lavinia, but also specifically tohurt her. Having imprisoned and punished them is not enough; he wants to see them suffer physically and ultimately die, a desire that only revenge can provide. Justice is achieved through logic and reason, while revenge is driven solely by emotion. In many tragedies, characters are motivated solely by emotions, and Titus Andronicus is no exception. Throughout the entire play, the characters, especially Tamora and Titus, act based on emotions and impulses, not logic and rationality. One of the most striking examples of this can be seen when Tamora decides to disguise herself as “Vendetta” to enter Titus' study (5.2.2-8). After she enters, Titus immediately recognizes her as Tamora; however, try to ease her alarm: I am not Tamora. She is your enemy and I am your friend. I am Vengeance, sent from the infernal realm To ease the vulture that gnaws at your mind by wreaking terrible vengeance on your enemies (5.2.28-32). After multiple attempts, Tamora believes she has finally convinced Titus that she is "Vengeance" and that his children are "Rape" and "Murder". However, after a period of intelligent acting on his part, Titus reveals his true thoughts and intentions in an aside to the audience before Tamora exits the stage, stating, "I knew them all, though they thought me crazy, / And I will do it". wander them in their own way - / A pair of cursed hellhounds and their mother” (5.2.142-144). Through this quote, Titus is letting the audience know that he is fully aware that it is Tamora and her children in her room, not "Revenge", "Rape" and "Murder", however, he plays along so that Tamora will leave her children alone with him and he will be able to exact his revenge. In this scene it becomes clear that to get revenge on Titus, Tamora completely ignores all logic and reason and relies solely on her main emotion: anger. This blinds her common sense and forces her to carry out an ineffective plan, which ultimately results in the murder of her children. However, it's not just Tamora who is driven by emotion when trying to get revenge. When Titus finally manages to find Demetrius and Chiron alone, he begins to plot his revenge on both of them for raping and mutilating Lavinia and on their mother for killing Quintus and Marcius, two of her many children. To simultaneously wound Demetrius, Chiron and Tamora, Titus devises a plan and declares it in a monologue: Listen, you wicked ones, I will crush your bones to dust, and with your blood and it I will make a paste, and from the mixture I will erect a coffin, and I will make two messes of your shameful heads, and will order that whore, your profane mother, as if the earth swallowed its own fruits. This is the banquet I have given her And this is the banquet she will be satisfied with (5.2.185-192). In this excerpt, Titus explains that to exact his revenge, he will kill and cook Demetrius and Chiron and serve them to their mother. Logic and reason are nowhere to be found in this revenge plot; it is driven entirely by emotion. There is no logical reason why two men should be killed, turned into pastries and served to the mother, regardless of the wrongdoing or the pain they caused. Furthermore, there is no logical reason why a mother should be forced to eat her children; however, Titus continues with this plot regardless, revealing the heads of Tamora's two dead children as he eats the sweets made from their bodies: Why, here they are, both baked in this cake, which their mother has delicately fed on, eating the meat. which she herself raised half. It's true, it's true, witness the sharp point of my knife (5.3.59-62). After uttering these final lines, Tito stabs Tamora, which inevitably leads to her husband,Saturnino, to stab and kill him. Titus has faced so many deaths and tragedies over the course of this play that in the final act he no longer acts according to logic and reason but instead relies on his emotions and impulses, leading to his death and culminating in revenge, not justice. Justice is neural and impartial, while revenge is driven by self-centeredness. When one strives for justice, he is not motivated by any external force; the main goal is to restore balance. However, revenge is almost always driven by self-interest and self-satisfaction, as it is for both Tamora and Titus. The first example of this aspect of revenge can be seen in the first act when Tamora hands it aside to her husband, Saturninus. After explaining that he plans to "slaughter" Titus and his family, he further states how he wants to influence their emotions, saying "And let them know what it means to let a queen / kneel in the streets and beg for mercy in vain." ” (1.1.451-452). Tamora wants to avenge the sacrifice of her son Alarbus; however, she also wants revenge for Tito's subjecting her to public humiliation. She was once a powerful queen, but now she is forced to beg and plead. He does not want revenge for his son's life, as one might believe, but for his own reputation and prestige, demonstrating that his view of revenge is rooted in self-interest. Similar to Tamora, many of Titus' motivations behind his revenge plots also lie in self-centeredness. After binding and gagging Demetrius and Chiron, her daughter's rapists and mutilators, she begins a monologue in which she berates these two men and explains in detail how she will take revenge (5.2.171-192). After explaining to Demetrius and Chiron that he will bake them into pastries and feed them to their mother, he reveals his true motives behind the revenge, stating: "Worse than Philomela you have used my daughter / And worse than Progne I will be avenged" (5.2. 193-194).After his entire monologue detailing how Demetrius and Chiron have harmed his daughter, Titus utters these two lines and it quickly becomes apparent that he wants revenge for himself Titus' revenge lies in the phrase "my daughter." He could have said, "you used Lavinia"; however, instead of addressing her by name and giving her agency, he refers to her as "mine" or his, establishing her first and foremost. as a possession. He then goes on to state, "I will take revenge," brazenly stating that he is the one who needs revenge, not his raped and mutilated daughter. Both claiming her as possessed and proclaiming that he is the one who needs to be "avenged" demonstrate that his idea of ​​revenge is rooted entirely in self-interest. Justice leads to closure, while revenge leads to an endless cycle of more revenge. This is the ultimate reason why Titus Andronicus is a tragedy of revenge, as opposed to a story of justice. The entire plot of the play is driven solely by revenge. The first conflict that arises is the sacrifice of Alarbo, son of Tamora (1.1.102-103). After this sacrifice, Tamora wants revenge on Titus and his family not only for killing her son but also for subjecting her to public humiliation (1.1.447-452). She achieves this revenge by employing Aaron, her lover, to create a plot in which Titus' sons, Quintus and Marcius, appear to have killed Bassianus, the Emperor's brother (2.3.268-280). This plan works, and Quintus and Marcius are sent to await execution (2.3.301-303). Tamora then employs Aaron to tell Titus that his sons' lives can be spared if he cuts off his hand (3.1.150-156). After doing so, the captions state that a messenger enters with.