Titus Andronicus

            In Shakespeare’s play, “Titus Andronicus,” the character Titus appeared to resonate with me the most because he showed the most growth in the play. In the beginning of the play Titus, a Roman general stands firmly by his country and his newly crowd emperor so much that he slays one of his own sons because he goes against emperor, when the emperor announces he wants to marry Titus’s daughter, who is already promised to the emperor’s younger brother and Titus’s sons stand by their sister when they help her run-off with the emperor’s younger brother. One of the brothers, who decide to stay behind blocking the door so the others have time to escape, is slain by their very own father because Titus views their action as treasonous.

            It is at this point of the play that Titus appears as this very cold, stern Roman general, who values his country more than his own family. It is completely obvious that Titus is willing to sacrifice his own family for the sakes of Rome. Shakespeare makes this aware to the reader in the first act of the play because it is here, Titus is returning from battle to bury twenty-five of his own sons. Titus appears to show no remorse that he has lost twenty-five of us own children in battle but appears proud for having sons die in battle for their country.

            Near the end of the play after, Titus has had two more sons slain because they are frame for murdering the emperor’s younger brother; I start to see Titus grow as a character. I start to see Titus evolve into more of a caring father, who cares for the well-being of his children because before his sons are executed he is trick into cutting off his own hand in exchange for both of the lives of his sons. It is at this point in the play that my feelings for Titus change completely because no longer is he willing to sacrifice his children for the sake’s of Rome but he is willing to sacrifice himself for his children.

            At the end of the play, when he kills his only daughter because she has been raped, I still view Titus’s character as remorseful because he doesn’t want her to go through life carrying her shame. The idea of Titus killing his only daughter is viewed as unkind but I can understand the reason behind his action. Titus even goes as far as to ask the emperor was it well done for Virginius, a Roman centurion who also killed his raped daughter. The emperor agrees that it was well done because as long as the girl lives, she bares the shame of the rape and her father will feel sorrow for his daughter for the rest of her life. At this point in the play, I view Titus as more as a sympathetic father, who even tries to rationalize his reason for killing his daughter because of the questions he posed to the emperor about Virginius. It is also at this point that I see Titus character as fully evolved from the cold, stern Roman general to the caring, sympathetic father because Titus is no longer allowing his children to be killed as a sacrifice but he kills his own child out of mercy.