Although traditionally Titus Andronicus has been seen as one of Shakespeare's least respected plays, its fortunes have changed somewhat in the latter half of the twentieth century, with numerous scholars arguing that the play is more significant and effective than has been acknowledged in most criticisms. In particular, scholars have argued that the play is far more thematically complex than has traditionally been thought, and features profound insights into ancient Rome, Elizabethan society, and the human condition. Such scholars tend to argue that these previously unacknowledged insights have only become apparent during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries due to newfound relevance in the play's ultraviolent content. For example, in his 1987 edition of the play for the Contemporary Shakespeare series, A.L. Rowse writes; "in the civilized Victorian age the play could not be performed because it could not be believed. Such is the horror of our own age, with the appalling barbarities of prison camps and resistance movements paralleling the torture and mutilation and feeding on human flesh of the play, that it has ceased to be improbable."[1] Similarly, director Julie Taymor, who staged a production Off-Broadway in 1994 and directed a film version in 1999, says she was drawn to the play because she found it to be the most "relevant of Shakespeare's plays for the modern era."[2] She feels that the play has more relevance for contemporary audiences than it had for the Victorians: "it seems like a play written for today, it reeks of now."[3] Because of these newer appreciations of the play's relevance, previously unrecognized thematic strands have thus come to the forefront.
This article presents an overview of four of the most prominent themes in the play.
^A.L. Rowse, Titus Andronicus; Contemporary Shakespeare Series (Maryland: University of America Press, 1987), 15
^Julie Taymor, DVD Commentary for Titus; 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2000
^Charlie Rose interview; 19 January 2000
and 22 Related for: Themes in Titus Andronicus information
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