TS Eliot once said that Titus Andronicus "is one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written, a play in which it is incredible that Shakespeare played a role." This was an amusing choice of words on Eliot's part, as one of the most disturbing scenes in the play is when Lavinia's hands are cut off, and in fact, it was this same scene that prevented spectators continued to watch the performance when the play was performed in 2014 at Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London (Clark). After Tamora's sons, Chiron and Demetrius, finished killing Lavinia's husband, Bassianus, and raping her in the forest, they cut out her tongue and hands, rendering her unable to identify them as her or her husband's attackers. They leave her helpless and covered in blood. Marcus, her uncle, finds her in the forest, he picks her up and takes her to Titus, who, upon seeing his daughter, is devastated. He said: But what gives my soul the greatest contempt Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul. If I had seen your photo in this situation, it would have driven me crazy; what should I do Now I see your living body like this? You have no hands to wipe away your tears, nor a tongue to tell me who tortured you. (3.1.101-107) Although William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus is categorized as a revenge tragedy and, as such, is expected to be littered with blood and carnage, reviews of the play say it is excessively violent, with the only possible purpose Shakespeare intended with the violence is shock value. They can even cite Lavinia's gruesome scene to prove their point. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay However, while this contributes to the shock value of Titus Andronicus, some drama is necessary; it is a play, after all – it is necessary in the play because it helps achieve a greater overall meaning, as the passage above demonstrates. Logically, people who experience an event as traumatic as rape may suffer a decline in their mental health and perhaps fall into deep depression. Thus, victims may not want to take care of themselves. They may neglect themselves by refusing to practice hygiene, eat or sleep. Victims may feel like their voice has been taken away from them and that they cannot speak out against their abusers, or if they did, that they might not be believed or accused that it is their fault. Shakespeare translates this in Titus Andronicus with the mutilation of Lavinia's body. When she is raped, her attackers steal her innocence (she had not even consummated her marriage yet) and leave her with extremely deep emotional scars. To show this profound emotional change, Shakespeare writes that Chiron and Demetrius mutilate his body. In the passage above, Titus is quoted as saying, "You have no hands to wipe away your tears, nor tongue to tell me who has martyred you" (3.1.106-107). Lavinia finds herself unable to take care of herself, or even feel better, because she cannot wipe away her tears or report her attackers, which is what many people might feel if something so traumatic and life-changing thing happened to them. People who are raped do not carry their scars on their bodies (unless, of course, their attacker physically hurts the outside of their body in some way), but the pain is retained on the body. interior. Therefore, people looking at the victim may not always know that he or she has beenhurt and do not feel the need to treat these people any differently than they would a stranger off the street. Thus, victims of traumatic events like rape may have the ability to recover emotionally, even though that recovery may be extremely difficult, because they do not have to suffer the pity, shame, and rejection that they might otherwise experience. otherwise be confronted if people were visibly aware of their trauma. This is not the case for Lavinia. When Chiron and Demetrius cut off her hands and tongue, they effectively allowed everyone who looked at Lavinia, including Lavinia herself, to see that something terrible had happened to her. It is again Titus who says: But what despises my soul the most, It is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul. If I had seen your photo in this situation, it would have driven me crazy; what should I do Now I see your living body like this? (3.1.101-105) Every time Titus looks at his daughter, he is reminded of the hurt and pain she had to endure, and it also causes him pain, or, as Shakespeare would say, contempt for his soul. . Seeing her father's reaction, as devastating as it was, makes Lavinia cry with shame and guilt, as most girls would probably react to feeling so bad about being the source of their father's grief. Additionally, people who see Lavinia will treat her differently, if not avoid her altogether, which would likely cause her even more shame through embarrassment and rejection, deterring any recovery process she might have. follow. Additionally, every time Lavinia looks in a mirror, tries to speak, or sees her stumps where her hands are supposed to be, she will remember this terribly traumatic event, making it virtually impossible for her to recover from it. The process of emotional recovery after a traumatic event is likely a long and arduous process, made even more difficult by the physical evidence on her body that reminds her of the attack every moment of her life. Through the violence done to Lavinia's body, Shakespeare shows that her rape has changed her forever and that she will never be able to recover from it, as probably happens to most people who undergo such an experience. At the very least, Shakespeare shows the extremely difficult struggle that victims undoubtedly face during the healing process. In addition to Lavinia's distorting violence translating to a deeper level, Shakespeare plays with political metaphor through the section of body parts. Titus Andronicus takes place in Rome, which operates under what is called a body politic, meaning that a group of people are ruled by one person (Merriam-Webster). In the case of Rome, this head of government is called an emperor. At the start of Titus Andronicus, Rome is left without an emperor and Marcus urges Titus to take over. Marcus states, “Be therefore a candidate, and put it on, / And help to set the head on headless Rome” (1.1.185-186). Titus refuses and entrusts Saturninus in charge, which triggers the decline of Rome and the increase in violence throughout the play. Shakespeare, who never misses an opportunity to play with words, dismembers a total of six body parts, all belonging to citizens of Rome, throughout Titus Andronicus, and with each severed body part he deepens this metaphor body politics. Rome is in constant disarray in the play where Saturninus, the "leader", dismembers and kills the citizens, the "body" of Rome. Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare completes his metaphor of the body politic by killing the head of the body of Rome. In a mirror image of the beginning of the play, Marcus seeks to unify. 966-1004.