Revenge Theme Analysis

Titus Andronicus is an example of the genre of drama called revenge tragedy (another, very different, example is Shakespeare’s Hamlet), so it is no surprise that revenge is central to the play. The play unfolds as a series of acts of revenge that plunge the characters into a spiral of eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth violence, summed up well by Lucius: “There’s meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.” But, as the play demonstrates, revenge does not annul or cancel out a crime or violent act. Rather, it only continues a cycle of violence. Titus kills Tamora’s oldest son as revenge for the loss of some of his own children, but this only causes her to seek revenge on him. But neither does her revenge solve the matter; it only prompts Titus to seek further vengeance on her. The tragedy concludes not because revenge finally settles any disputes, but because by the end of the play no one is left alive to seek further vengeance. Shakespeare thus takes a common convention of tragic plots—revenge—and explores it to its fullest extent throughout the play, even having Tamora appear disguised as the very personification of Revenge in Act 5. Ultimately, Shakespeare reveals revenge as an alluring and tempting, but ultimately ineffective and harmful, response to personal injury and loss.