"Then let no man but I / Do execution on my flesh and blood": Filicide and Family Bonds in "Titus Andronicus"

According to Raymond Westbrook, by the late Republic, Roman authors came to associate the concept of vitae necisque potestas with barbaric rulers, and a "metaphor for unbridled tyranny" that allows the "right of summary execution without cause" (Westbrook 204, 223). [...]the fami...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medieval & Renaissance drama in England 2015-01, Vol.28, p.110-122
Main Author: Detmer-Goebel, Emily
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audiences
British & Irish literature
Children
Children & youth
Drama
Dramaturges
English literature
Families & family life
Fathers
Metaphor
Morality
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Sons
Writers
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Summary:According to Raymond Westbrook, by the late Republic, Roman authors came to associate the concept of vitae necisque potestas with barbaric rulers, and a "metaphor for unbridled tyranny" that allows the "right of summary execution without cause" (Westbrook 204, 223). [...]the family unit-and the reciprocal bonds-that seemed so strong at the beginning of the play begin to break down. Aaron is the character in the play who explicitly claims the power of life and death when his illegitimate child is born to his mistress, the emperor's wife Tamora. Because the baby's skin color will reveal Tamora's extramarital sexual relations and thus not bring honor to her, she sends word to Aaron to "christen it with thy dagger's point" (4.2.70). [...]Saturninus claims that it is Bassianus who has committed a "rape" when he abducts Lavinia (1.1.410).
ISSN:0731-3403