A Queen's Wrath: The Wronged Queen from "Titus Andronicus"

NOTE: this article builds upon my poem "Tamora," included here but also published elsewhere on this site without the rest of the essay.

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Tamora, the supposed villain of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, is too often overlooked as merely an evil force present in the play. This may be because of her association with the murderous Aaron, or because of her treatment toward the so-called innocent Lavinia, but the main reason she is hated is because she is the protagonist's opponent, and therefore wicked. Sadly, audience sympathy is cold toward the wronged queen, and loyal to the cruel and possibly mad title character. This is because we, like Titus, view Tamora as an outsider. Because we never see her alone, never hear her monologues, we do not recognize the strength of her character or acknowledge the sins that have been committed against her. What I shall now offer is the speech Tamora never gave; let the open-minded individual read my poem, and try to view the Gothic queen as she views herself, rather than how she is seen through the cold eyes of her foil, Titus Andronicus.

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But look upon me in my current state!

A Roman whore, who since was Queen of Goths;

And thou, who holdst tradition as thy god,

Whose honor stolen is from those enslaved

Who hast no caring for thy offspring dear

Thou hadst no reverence for my desperate plea

And slew my son as I in tears looked on.

I pray the gods that one day thou shalt know

That self-same agony, to cry in vain

And on that day Queen Tamora will arise

And then my foes will know my burning wrath:

I'll find a day to massacre them all.

First let me turn my hate upon thy name

And poison thy good lord to hate thy sight

For like a spectacle thou brought me hence

And didst abuse me in thy master's eyes,

So even he to whom thou gave me o'er

Shall I seduce and with a black device

Shall make his love turn cold to thee and thine;

If Justice live on earth I cannot fail.

Now to the daughter do I sweep my gaze.

Wilt call me strumpet, girl, and mock my love?

Thy chastity shall know abuse far more

Than is the sin thou chargest me withal.

I have, in spite of all thy father did,

These two remaining sons, and unto them

Shalt thou be sacrifice. Thus I devise

To feed and strengthen these, my flesh and blood,

With spawn that from my enemy is sprung.

I cannot pity thee, thou weakling wretch,

That all too lately threatened to reveal

The secret that I keep; as I am strong

I will not pardon those who wrong me so:

Thy begging rather scorned than pitied is.

Now these three men, who played a brutal part

In all the troubles I felt heretofore

Fall prey to me: the two to my own will;

The third is by a happy circumstance '"

Arising from the works that I perform '"

Brought underneath dominion of my pow'r

And unto ruin I deliver all.

So thou, my foe, if thou hast seen my might,

If tasted of my wrath, if known my sting,

If harmed thyself in desperate fear of me,

If knelt to those who act as I see fit,

If begged in vain as once thou madest me,

Then where, I ask thee, is thy honor now?

And whither is thy glory? Whither strength?

It goeth hard for him that crosseth me!

Know, ere my life is out I'll see thee killed.

Not Tamora, I, no more:

I am Revenge.

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In writing this monologue I have attempted to bring a marginalized character to the forefront, allowing readers to step into the mind of someone who is generally viewed as the enemy. In doing so I hope to offer an alternate reading of the play, in which we may see Tamora as the tragic hero and Titus, her nemesis, as the true villain. Over the following pages let us examine this poem in comparison to the play; and please accept my sincerest wishes that you, dear reader, like to myself, may acquire some amount of admiration for the wronged queen.

The soliloquy begins with Tamora remarking on her fall from power and her shame at the hands of her captor. This entire stanza is inspired by act I scene i of the bard's masterpiece, in which readers meet the Gothic queen and witness the execution of her first-born son. This scene is of paramount importance if we are to gain any understanding for Tamora. The 12^th line of my poem is a quote taken directly from Shakespeare's Tamora who says of Titus and his sons,

I'll find a day to massacre them all,

And raze their faction and their family,

The cruel father and his traitorous sons

To whom I sued for my dear son's life,

And make them know what ''Æ'''¹..."tis to let a queen

Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain (I.i.447-452).

This is Tamora's motivation as given to us by Shakespeare: the murder of her son, and her own dishonor. These sentiments are reflected in lines 6 and 7 of my poem: "Thou hadst no reverence for my dying plea / And slew my son as I in tears looked on." It is from this horrific incident that all of her hatred seems to spring, and from the very beginning of the play we are forced to question Titus' idea of justice.

At lines 3-5 of the monologue Titus is charged as a man "who holdst tradition as thy god / Whose honor stolen is from those enslaved / Who hast no caring for thy offspring dear." This again paints the contrast between Tamora, who pleads for her first-born, and Titus, who slays his own son with the cry "What, villain boy, / Barr'st me my way in Rome?" (I.i.286-287); Titus is obsessed with his rights, with his title, with the traditions of his city. It is precisely these characteristics which allow for Alarbus' execution: the catalyst for the rest of the tragedy. When Tamora asks Titus to defend her son against the demands of Lucius and the others, he denies her on grounds of Roman tradition: "Religiously," he says, "they ask a sacrifice" (I.i.124).

I found it fitting that Tamora, who had once invoked the gods in hopes of protecting her family (I.i.117-119) should now, in the poem, invoke them for justice (line 8). Her reference in line 2 to herself as a whore is included because it is only through marriage to her enemy, Saturninus, that Tamora is able to reclaim power. The opening stanza of my poem, then, mirrors the opening scene of Titus Andronicus in introducing both the Gothic queen and the Roman general, and touching on the motivations of each. From this point on, Tamora may not conduct herself with absolute virtue, but the course she pursues is one which has been provoked by the cruel actions of her unfeeling captor.

The second stanza of my poem is largely based off the ways in which we see Tamora manipulating the emperor in Shakespeare's play; "If Saturninus advance the Queen of Goths," she says, "She will a handmaid be to his desires, / A loving nurse, a mother to his youth" (I.i.327-329). In fact this is not at all the way in which she will treat her new husband, and in act II scene iii she oversees the murder of his brother. Once granted power, though, Tamora immediately begins advising Saturninus in how to deal with Titus, and at I.i.439 requests of him, "My lord, be ruled by me -- "

In line 18 of the poem Tamora mentions a "black device" which "Shall make [Saturninus'] love turn cold to thee and thine" (line 19). This is a reference to Aaron the Moor, and the fatal trick he plays in act II scene iii. Had the emperor not already been angry with the Andronicus family, he is certainly so upon fruition of Aaron's plan, which frames Titus' two sons for the murder of Bassianus. The emperor's wrath is great:

Two of thy whelps, fell curs of bloody kind,

Have here bereft my brother of his life.

Sirs, drag them from the pit unto the prison.

There let them bide until we have devised

Some never-heard-of torturing pain for them (II.iii.281-285).

Noteworthy is Tamora's invocation of Justice in the soliloquy, for this mirrors Titus' speech in which he claims that Justice cannot be found on earth (IV.iii.1-24). His words seem almost ironic in light of the great vengeance we here see implemented by Tamora, who says at line 20 of the poem, "If Justice live on earth I cannot fail."

The poem's third stanza speaks of the scene in which Lavinia and her husband Bassianus '" not mentioned in this monologue '" catch Tamora and Aaron together in the forest, and fall to mocking them. In the few short lines near the beginning of act II scene iii, Tamora is sarcastically referred to as the virgin goddess Dian (57), said to be working "experiments" in the forest (69), and charged with making a cuckold of her husband (70-71). Aaron, in turn, is called Tamora's "raven-coloured love" (83), a "barbarous Moor" (78), as well as "Spotted, detested, and abominable" (74). As Lavinia and her husband move to leave, they briefly turn back and inform Tamora of their intent to betray her secret (85-87). But none of this goes unpaid for. In line 22 of my poem Tamora demands,

Wilt call me strumpet, girl, and mock my love?

Thy chastity shall know abuse far more

Than is the sin thou chargest me withal.

Bassianus is then stabbed to death by Tamora's two sons, who proceed to rape Lavinia. Evil begets evil, and Tamora, the abused queen, will have her revenge. In line 34 of the soliloquy she notes, "I will not pardon those who wrong me so: / Thy begging rather scorned than pitied is." In Shakespeare's play Lavinia pleads for mercy, but her captor says to Tamora "Listen, fair madam, let it be your glory / To see her tears -- " (139-140). In the feud between Titus' household and Tamora's, it is the Roman who struck first, but the Goth who will strike harder, reveling in her opponents' pain.

Lines 35-41 make up the shortest stanza of my poem; this is partially due to the fact that although this stanza depicts events of paramount importance in Titus' life, the real action takes place offstage, and it is less memorable than many other scenes. The primary motive behind this stanza's brevity, however, is to quicken the pace of the poem as it builds toward its end: although the events here spoken of take place in act III scene i of Titus Andronicus '" about halfway through the story as told from Titus' point of view '" they are the finishing touches on Tamora's masterpiece; and it is through her eyes that this poem is written, and through which we now attempt to gaze. The author of this monologue, (Tamora, let us suppose), no longer takes her time in meticulously explaining each crime she commits; she has worked herself into excitement as she skims over the wrongful deaths of Titus' two sons and the banishment of a third. This then is a transitional phase, leading us into the final stanza, in which Tamora's might is fully realized.

Tamora oversees the rape, banishment, and deaths of Titus' children, but her influence does not stop there. In act III scene i, her cruelty touches Titus' physical person for, in desperation, the Roman general enlists Aaron's help in cutting off his own hand, hoping to save his children from the queen's grasp. This is what is spoken of in the last stanza of my poem when Tamora says of Titus, "[Thou hast] harmed thyself in desperate fear of me" (line 44). Titus begs for the lives of his sons to no avail:

Hear me, grave fathers; noble Tribunes, stay --

Be pitiful to my condemned sons,

Whose souls is not corrupted as ''Æ'''¹..."tis thought.

For two-and-twenty sons I never wept,

Because they died in honour's lofty bed (III.i.1-11).

This moment of the play is Tamora's supreme blow to her enemy, dripping with irony as it recalls the events of act I scene i; but this time it is Titus who pleads for his offspring, and Tamora who coldly refuses mercy. For the wrongs he has done her, Titus has been brought low by the queen, who now can boast that her foe has "knelt to those who act as I see fit, / [And] begged in vain as once thou madest me" (lines 45-46). She has used all means necessary to punish the man responsible for her son's execution; through seduction and manipulation of her husband, through the tricks and deceits of her lover, Tamora has placed the heartless general in the position he once forced upon her. Titus, at last, knows firsthand the shame and the anguish he inflicted upon the captured Queen of Goths.

My complaint is that Titus Andronicus is generally seen as a revenge tragedy about the title character; I would have you consider it through the eyes of his opponent. Let us not judge harshly the tragic figure of the queen. It is Tamora against whom the first offense is committed, and it is Tamora who orchestrates the most stunning moments of the tale. She is pushed to her limit and her righteous anger allows for the remainder of the play to take place. She, like Titus, obtains her revenge and meets with a gruesome demise: the difference is that she dies in horror and sorrow, as opposed to Titus' madness and hate (V.iii.54-63).

Through writing this poem I have been forced to take certain creative liberties, if merely in daring to impersonate the great bard of Avon, but I do not speak simply for dramatic effect when I write in Tamora's voice, "ere my life is out I'll see thee killed" (line 50). Although it is true that Titus receives his mortal wound only after dealing Tamora hers (V.iii.62-63), the two incidents are only a moment apart, and the stage directions specify that Titus be killed, while Tamora is merely stabbed; the moment of her death is ambiguous, and may well take place after she witnesses the killing of Titus Andronicus. If so, we may mourn her shortcomings and her untimely death, but cannot deny the absolute completion of her vengeance.

For this reason do I end the poem with a reference to Tamora's disguise in the beginning of act V. The final line of my poem echoes the words of Tamora in V.i.30, at which point the queen actually embodies the abstract ideal she has been striving for since the cruel death of her son. After bringing unspeakable pain and destruction upon her adversary, the Queen of Goths seems to be speaking in quite literal terms when she states her identity: "I am Revenge."