Titus Andronicus And Timon Of Athens (1986) - Plot & Excerpts
Shakespeare's gory revenge play, "Titus Andronicus" seems like the Tarantino flick of its day, complete with amputations, cannibalism and every note of human cruelty and resentment. The titular character is a honor-fixated Roman general who returns from years of warfare to a populace that wants to crown him emperor as tribute. He turns down the role, handing it over to the former emperor's son instead. After the new emperor marries the queen Titus vanquished, however, things go wrong quickly. Titus murders his own son, sees his daughter raped and mutilated and two other sons framed for the murder of his son-in-law, the emperor's brother. This first spurt of action culminates in a gory scene where he chops off his own hand to win his sons' freedom, only to receive their severed heads instead.From there, Titus' thoughts understandably turn toward rebellion and revenge, even as his enemies continue plotting evil against him...and anyone within proximity. The villainy, like the rest of the play, is over the top in embracing decadence. Shakespeare goes gonzo, and while there are some pleasures there, it's hard to follow at times, much less believe. Titus accomplishes a pyrrhic victory, but there's no satisfaction there, only grim finality.This is regarded as one of Shakespeare's worst plays, and it reads like a prodigious talent discovering exactly what it can get away with. I wouldn't be surprised if it were very successful; as the accompanying commentaries state, it's pure melodrama, without much ambiguity or growth to leaven it. There are definitely highlights: the terror of the woodland scenes as well as "Aaron the Moor's" defiance defending his newborn son, one borne by the empress and not matching the hue of her royal husband. There's a great perspective there, and it's exciting to see Shakespeare mine it, even as he turns Aaron into something of a literal devil at the end."Titus Andronicus" probably isn't the place to start if you're looking to become familiar with the Bard. If you've read a bit of Shakespeare, though, it's an opportunity to see a new flavor on the familiar, even if it isn't wholly a successful one.As for "Timon of Athens," it's a pretty thin tale. It shares the fall of the titular Greek noblemen, who's constantly chasing new extravagance in lavishing his friends with parties and gifts. Unfortunately, this ostentatious generosity soon renders him bankrupt, and his servants go out in vain to borrow money from the very people for whom he's just squandered his fortune.Friends like these are "feast-won, fast-lost" we're reminded, but that offers Timon little comfort. Embittered, he goes to live in the wilderness, casting his hate onto all men who approach him. Timon travels from the extremes of society to the extremes of solitude pretty easily; as the play makes clear, he's unable to find moderation in either form. He eventually dies, but his scornful epitaph ends up saving the city of Athens from destruction by the rebel Alcibiades, who was cast out at the same time as Timon but finds a happier medium in his relationship with his fellow man.The play is commonly regarded as unfinished, and it reads that way, more a morality play than the dense, layered narratives we're used to from Shakespeare. The cynical philosopher Apemantus has some nice lines, but Timon is more a parable than a character...and not very fun to spend time with.Apemantus does get some nice insults in, though:Timon: How lik'st thou this picture, Apemantus...Wrought he not well that painted it?Apemantus: He wrought better that made the painter, and yet he's but a filthy piece of work.With "Timon of Athens," Shakespeare seems to have a point he wanted to make but wasn't able to successfully dramatize to completion. As a result, the play is likely for completists only.
Really really dark. I am pretty sure that Aaron is one of the darkest characters to have ever been created. After reading this I have met a girl named Lavinia and pray that her parents didn't name her after the girl in this play! She is beautiful and because of it her husband is murdered, she is raped and beaten, her hands and tongue get cut off and in the end her father slits her throat. Dark, dark, dark. Though I did like some lines that were written. They were spoken by Titus Andronicus when his son has died:Secure from worldly chances and mishaps. Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, here grow no damned grudges; here are no storms, no noise, but silence and eternal sleep: In peace and honor rest you here, my sons.
What do You think about Titus Andronicus And Timon Of Athens (1986)?
Titus is pretty crazy, gory stuff. However, it did give us: "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" Honestly, I'd just rent Julie Taymor's excellent adaptation with Anthony Hopkins. It's got weird past-mixed-with-present art direction but the play itself is weird so it all works quite well.ps - I highly recommend the Signet Classics editions for all of Shakespeare's works. They have the best footnote/annotation system I've seen. It enhances readability and still gives you all the info you'd need.
—Keith Mukai
Read Titus Andronicus for class.Rounded down to 2 stars for both.2.5 stars for Titus Andronicus.Titus Andronicus is about a Roman soldier who becomes the target of revenge after he sentences the son of the queen-of-Goths-turned-Empress to death.Normally, people will say -- and myself included -- that I have very few problems with gore and violence in fictional works (i.e. cinema, television, video games); in fact, I might relish it a bit because I'm not really a violent person and when it comes to real atrocities I can be human and feel empathy and sadness. But when I'm playing Grand Theft Auto, I kind of just want to shoot gangsters, bang prostitutes and run over pedestrians, because I would never in all my life ever do something like that if it were really me and real life. Sometimes, though, fictional works can go a little too far for me (like certain scenes from Hostel, because seriously removed eyeballs hanging from sockets. Just thinking about that image makes me want to throw up). And that's what Titus Andronicus was like for me.Many people I know would call Shakespearean work boring because they don't think anything happens, and I will always call bullshit. Just because Shakespeare was writing plays doesn't mean things don't happen. Yeah, you read dialogue and minimal stage directions, but let's grow an imagination so that when it says He kills/stabs him you can envision it. And my imagination did that for this play because when it says people start lobbing body parts off and cutting off/out other body parts, my imagination concocted gratuitous gore, so much that it was a tad sickening. I won't even start on the cannibalism.But points to Shakespeare for not following through with the infanticide.2.5 stars for Timon of AthensTimon of Athens is about Timon, a lord in debt, whose "friends" won't lend him money even though he is nice to them and gave them lavish gifts previously.The play isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. Timon comes across as overly naive and foolish, and obviously his "friends" are huge dickbags. It's so irritating that Timon's dumb enough to keep giving people gifts when his money's practically bye-bye. That's what bothered me most about this play. I can't even sympathize with Timon because he's so careless with his wealth and doesn't ask to be paid back. What does he end up with? People who take advantage of him and rob him blind. So annoying.I know this play is supposed to be a tragedy or part of the problem plays, and it is a little tragic (view spoiler)[with Timon's (I assume) suicide (hide spoiler)]
—Jocelyn
