In Shakespeare’s,
“Titus Andronicus” there is one particular relationship that interested me the
most, the relationship between Tamora and Aaron the Moor. In Act II Scene I,
Aaron is first introduced as Tamora’s lover. It is not until this point of the
play that we know the role of Aaron in the play. In this particular act of the
play Aaron is going on and on about Tamora. I find their relationship as
one-sided because Aaron seems to be more invested in Tamora more so than she is
into him. Throughout the play, there seems to be this underlying reason behind
Aaron’s action that he could be doing all of his misdeeds for Tamora.
It
is believe in the play that Aaron’s character is just pure villainous and that
he is just an all-around bad guy but his love for his son proves otherwise.
Aaron is well aware of his wrong doings and is willing to admit them all to
Lucius, if Lucius will only spare his son. Aaron’s love for his son appears to
spurn from his love for Tamora because throughout the play Aaron has never had
any real connection with Titus or his family other than Tamora. Titus captures
Aaron along with Tamora and her sons at the beginning of the play but Aaron
never really had a reason to seek any revenge on Titus. Why would Aaron want to
cause such harm to Titus and his family? A reasonable explanation is to seek
revenge for Tamora because Titus killed her son. Aaron seems to want to please
Tamora by trying to hurt Titus. In Act V Scene I, Aaron even brags about the
damage he has done to Titus and how when he told Tamora of his deed, she
sounded please and rewarded him with twenty kisses.
Tamora
doesn’t appear as interested in Aaron as he is into her. In Act II Scene III,
she refers to him as her love and tries to be intimate with him before they are
discovered by Lavinia and Bassianus. It
is here in the play where Tamora feelings for Aaron is revealed but later in
the play after she gives birth to his son in Act IV Scene II, she tells the
nurse to bring the child to Aaron so that he can kill his own child. In this
scene of the play, Tamora appears to care little for Aaron or his child because
she wants the child dead unlike Aaron, who wants to make sure his son grows up
into a man.
Whether or not Aaron has done all of his deeds for the love of Tamara is a bit ambiguous in the play. If one were to argue against this notion, the first instinct would be to point to Aaron's confession of all of the other terrible deeds that he had done, deeds that were obviously done before Titus and his family ever even entered his world. It should be noted however that Tamara and Aaron's relationship also predates the murder of her son, by Titus. So Aaron may very well have done all of those other deeds for the love of Tamara as well. I agree that Tamara does not love him equally, or possibly at all. I feel that her character was somehow incapable of love. Even when she is pleading for her son's life I felt that her speech was emotionally hollow and more of a put on of airs.
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