ENG111 -- Introduction to Literature: Beholding Violence in Drama and Film

Prof. Eileen Joy

Summer 2009

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS #4: Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Taymor's Titus)

Figure 1. Lavinia in Julie Taymor's Titus

Respond to TWO of the following prompts:

1. Is it possible to sympathize with Tamora at all? Why, or why not?

2. Who, or what, do you think is ultimately to blame for the tragic chain of events that leads to the downfall of Titus and his family, as well as to the death of all the main characters (excepting Lucius) by the end of the play? [Pause before you rush to provide an overly simplistic reponse to this question--consider that the chain of events in the play is complex, indeed, and carefully consider the psychological motivations behind different characters' actions.]

3. How do you ultimately judge Lucius's punishment of Aaron the Moor at the end of the play? Does he get what he deserves? Why, or why not? [In order to adequately respond to this prompt, you will have to spend some time considering what constitutes a "just" punishment and also what you think "just" means.]

4. Based on your reading and viewing of Titus Andronicus , would you say that there are certain situations in which revenge is justified, or conversely, would you argue that revenge is never justified? Explain your justification in detail, with reference to the specific events of the play.

5. Are people inherently evil, or are they somehow made evil? [Respond with reference to one or more characters in the play, and be sure to begin by defining how you interpret, in detail, the term "evil."]

6. Following the thinking of Sir Philip Sidney, Terence Hawkes argues in his essay that tragedy, as an art form, is similar to a medical dissection, in that it strips way the outer layers of "polite" life to show the "ulcers" [i.e., moral corruption] underneath. It shows the moral sickness, in other words, that is supposedly always inside of each one of us. Would you agree with this argument, and why or why not? In what ways might Titus Andronicus give us a kind of dissection of the "ulcers" inside each one of us?

7. In her film Titus, Julie Taymor greatly expanded the role of Lucius's son, "Young Lucius" [in Shakespeare's play], and has him appear in almost every scene, mainly as a voyeur [someone who is always watching]. Why do you think Taymor did this, and what is she trying to accomplish, do you think, by the ways in which she positions Young Lucius in almost every scene? Further, consider how Taymor ends the film, which is different from the play, and which focuses specifically on Young Lucius and Aaron's son: why do you think Taymor chose to end the film with this scene, and what, exactly, is going on in this final scene, in your opinion?

8. At the end of her film Titus, during the penultimate and gory banquet scene at Titus's house, Taymor suddenly pulls the camera back to reveal the dining room table and all of the corpses in the middle of the Roman amphitheater, and in the seats of that amphitheater are modern viewers who look just like us [in other words, they are contemporary with the 21st century]. What do you think Taymor was trying to accomplish with this creative directorial maneuver?

9. How did viewing Taymor's film Titus affect the ways in which you understand and/or feel about Shakespeare's play and its characters, especially as regards its violence and themes of revenge?

Please respond to the questions with full, complete sentences. You should write approximately two typed, double-spaced pages (total) in response to the prompts you choose (but let's not get distracted by these fine points of detail--what matters to me is that you respond to these prompts with thoughtfulness and care and show me that you have something of substance to say in relation to the reading and discussions we have had, and what that ultimately means is: MORE is always better than less, but one page is the minimum). The questions are always interpretive in nature, and therefore there are NO right or wrong answers, only your opinion (an opinion, nevertheless, that's hopefully grounded in a close reading of the text as well as a close attention to background material presented through online links). You will want to refer to and/or quote specific passages from the text in order to support your observations and ideas.

Responses should be saved as .doc [Microsoft Word] or .rtf [Rich Text Format] files and sent to ejoy@siue.edu as email attachments.