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The Necessary
and the Seditious Woman:
Portraits of
Females in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
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Jillian Gleave
Westminster College
Salt Lake City, Utah
Written during
a period when women were often seen as little more than property
and could not even represent themselves onstage, Shakespeare’s
Titus Andronicus both supports but at the same time questions prevailing
Elizabethan stereotypes about women. On the surface, the play
sustains the concept that women are either chaste and obedient,
or manipulative and duplicitous. A deeper analysis of the
female characters however, reveals that they are not only
necessary in the patriarchal world, but in some ways more
effective and needed than the males.
Many scenes in
Titus Andronicus display the oppressiveness of the
patriarchy ─ the most apparent example being the scene where Lavinia, Titus’s daughter, is raped and mutilated. The
emperor’s step-sons, Chiron and Demetrius, lust for her and
unempathetically take what they desire. They take from her the
one affect a woman in that period could own and value ─ her
chastity. In fact, chastity was so valued that Saturninus
agrees that the ancient Virginius was just in slaying his
deflowered daughter “because the girl should not survive her
shame” (5.3 41), and immediately after, Titus takes the advice
and kills Lavinia. Not only do the brothers tyrannize Lavinia
with rape before her death, but they condemn her to lifelong
silence by cutting out her tongue and chopping off her hands.
This is a gruesome image of female subjugation, and the graphic
nature of it is furthered by the brothers’ mockery. Demetrius
taunts her to “go tell, and if thy tongue can speak/ who ‘twas
that cut thy tongue and ravished thee” (2.4 1-2). Lavinia has
been brutally demoralized both physically and emotionally by two
men, who in their lust and lack of respect for women are
symbolic of an extreme patriarchal order.
Another, less
horrific, instance of Lavinia’s repression is her father’s
attempted arranged marriage between her and Saturninus.
Saturninus, in an empty gesture of generosity, states that
“Lavinia will [he] make [his] empress” (1.1 240). Then without
requesting any comment from Lavinia he asks Titus, “doth this
motion please thee?” (1.1 243), as if the only persons the
“motion” concerns is the father and the future husband. Titus
responds in a like manner, completely ignorant of Lavinia,
stating that the match does please him and that he feels
personally honored (1.1 244- 5). Neither man bothers to wonder
if the “motion” pleases Lavinia, and once she asserts that she
is already beholden to Saturninus’s brother, Bassianus, neither
seems to think that is an important enough claim to cause Titus
to renege on his promise. Lavinia’s choices in life and her
word to another man mean nothing to her father and the emperor.
She has no power, no autonomy, and no voice in this patriarchal
world; she is expected to uphold the female standard of
obedience and silence.
Though less
obvious, Tamora is also dominated by male law. First, her country is
pillaged by invading Romans, then she and her three sons are
taken back to Rome to serve as both prisoners and sacrifice.
Tamora's eldest son is ritualistically sacrificed by Titus, and no
amount of pleading on her part can save her beloved son. She
subsequently marries the emperor of the kingdom that has done this to
her country and family. Saturninus is propelled to marry Tamora
out of lust and desire. Tamora knows that it will likely be the
only opportunity she will have to gain any amount of agency in
this foreign country. Her options are nil: marry a total
stranger and accrue a percentage of autonomy, or remain a slave
in a draconian land. Given this, her decision is unsurprising.
It is not only
the men that uphold the patriarchy and repress women, but also,
the females of the play. Whenever the women have an opportunity
to help one another, they do the opposite and adopt an absolutely
inimical attitude toward the other. During an afternoon of
hunting, Lavinia and Bassianus discover Tamora and her secret
lover Aaron in a comprising and insinuating position. Lavinia,
previously soft spoken and gentle, suddenly displays a vicious,
deprecating, and spiteful attitude toward Tamora. Lavinia
berates Tamora, telling her she has a “goodly gift in horning”
(2.3 67). Lavinia continues to scorn Tamora, calling her “foul
adulteress/ lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms/ that
ever ear did hear to such effect” (2.3 109- 11). Lavinia’s
diatribe is unexpectedly cruel. If anyone, Lavinia may be
expected to understand Tamora’s position, having escaped from a
loveless marriage to Saturninus herself. Instead, Lavinia is
more pitiless than the men, who traditionally should be the one
to enforce the patriarchy and relegate Tamora into a more
rightful (i.e. chaste) female position.
Tamora is
similarly pitiless to Lavinia when their fortunes are reversed.
During this same scene in the forest Tamora’s sons arrive to
defend her honor; a perverted version of honor which involves
murdering Bassianus and raping and mutilating Lavinia. Knowing
their plan, Lavinia pleads to Tamora, imploring her on the basis
of their shared womanhood: “thou bearest a woman’s face” (2.3
136). Lavinia does not ask for kindness, but simply for pity,
for immediate death that will keep her “from their worse than
killing lust” (2.3 175), that is, from the ultimate shame of
rape. Lavinia would rather be murdered and tumbled “into some
loathsome pit” (2.3 176) than be raped and remain alive. Tamora
shows no mercy for Lavinia, and seems pleased at her sons’
plans. At Tamora’s lack of pity, Lavinia demands “No grace? No
womanhood? . . . The blot and enemy to our general name” (2.3 182-3). Lavinia is sensitive to the fact that
as a woman Tamora should
be empathetic to her cause, and because she is not, Lavinia
asseverates that Tamora is a disgrace to womankind. Within both
instances the women, instead of helping, further oppress and
injure one another. It is not just the men within the play who
are sustaining female repression and patriarchal domination, but
also the women. Helene Cixous adeptly verbalizes this
phenomenon of women against women as “the greatest crime [men
have committed] against women” (310). Women have been taught to
“hate women, to be their own enemies, to mobilize their immense
strength against themselves” (Cixous 310). In this case, it is
true; women within the play are their own adversaries.
Though the
females are definitely oppressed, they are also needed by the
patriarchy. Because of this, they attain some amount of power.
The females in Titus Andronicus provide a foundation for
the men’s identities and life efficacy. In the marriage between
Tamora and Saturninus, for example, Tamora does not simply help
support her husband’s identity, but creates it by compelling
every action that he takes. Saturninus is little more
than a spokesperson, while Tamora is ruler (both of the marriage
and of the empire) through her manipulation and influence over
him. In one instance, she pleads for the pardon of Titus’s
family, and Saturninus abides. She does not have a noble intent
in this, but plans that her lord “be ruled by [her], be won at
last” (1.1 443, 451). She simply wishes to hold arbitrary rule
over Saturninus, and places her influence wherever she fancies.
She admits that she “must advise the Emperor for his good,” and
indeed, she more accurately rules him than advises him. Near
the end of the play Tamora gives up simply “advising”
Saturninus, and actively does his duties. Saturninus becomes
too absorbed in anxiety to continue an effective leadership, and
Tamora takes over, telling him to “bury all thy fear in [her]
devices” (4.4 113). Tamora is an essential instrument to
Saturninus’s rulership. She, a woman within the patriarchy,
maintains a subversive position within the male dominated
world. She is not only valued by her husband and allowed to
voice her mind, but is necessary in ruling a country.
Lavinia is
similarly a needed aspect of Titus’s household. Emily
Demeter-Goebel argues that during this period, in cases of rape the female’s
accusation was necessary in allowing the family to take revenge,
and thereby regain their honor. Demeter-Goebel points out that
in the early modern period rape could only be prosecuted with a
woman’s indictment, and this “left male relatives, who were
still very much involved in the legal process, dependent on
women’s voices and their knowledge” (79). The need for Lavinia’s voice is underscored by her family’s repeated pleas
for her to communicate. The first person to encounter Lavinia,
Marcus, immediately implores her to “speak, gentle niece, what
stern ungentle hands/ hath lopped and hewed and made thy body
bare” (2.4 26-7). Her father repeats the appeal to “speak,
Lavinia, what accursed hand/ hath made thee handless” (3.1
61-2). Her brother follows, asking her “speak, gentle sister,
who hath mart’red thee?” (3.1 81). Her father continues to
entreat her communication by claiming that she “dost talk in
sign” (3.2 22). Lavinia’s family is relentless in attempting to
glean the account of her mutilation. They are dependent on her
knowledge and thus her voice in righting their wrongs. Once
Lavinia “voices” this information by writing the names in sand,
her importance immediately lessens; “she is not addressed or
consoled, but told to kneel down with the others present and
swear revenge” (Demeter-Goebel 87). She has served her needed
purpose and is now relegated back to the unneeded, subjugated
realm. What is important, however, is that she did serve a
needed position, her knowledge creating a state of male
dependence on her.
The idea that women are
essential to the men in the play does not suggest that female
individuality has become a value more important is the role a
female plays. For example, Saturninus does not necessarily care
who fulfills the role of his wife, as long as some lust-worthy
woman does. Only 25 lines after Bassianus declares that Lavinia
is betrothed to him, Saturninus retorts that “the Emperor needs
her not,” (1.1 300); instead he has chosen Tamora for his bride
(1.1 320). In his opinion, the differences between Lavinia and
Tamora are negligible; they are both beautiful women that would
fulfill his desires. In a similar condition, it is not
Lavinia’s condition as an individual that drives Chiron and
Demetrius’ lust; it does not matter under what circumstances
they obtain their goal, as long as they achieve it. Initially,
the two brothers are in competition over who loves Lavinia the
most. They are ready to fight in order to “plead [their]
passions for Lavinia’s love” (2.1 36). Chiron claims that he
“love[s] Lavinia more than all the world” and Demetrius
determines that since “she is a woman, therefore may be wooed,
won [and] loved” (2.1 73, 83-5). The brothers think that they
love her for her individuality, her beauty, and singularity. It
is Aaron who helps them realize they do not love her, but simply
lust for her, and that lust can easily be fulfilled. Though
women in the play attain a few rights and influence, in this
early modern patriarchal world it is nearly insignificant because
of the fact that the women are so replaceable and reducible. Lavinia was easily replaced by Tamora and just as simply,
reduced to her physical appeal.
One of Shakespeare’s
earliest tragedies, written around 1587, Titus Andronicus
maintains many of the reductive and stereotypical depictions of
women. Lavinia is meant to remain chaste, silent and obedient,
and Tamora is duplicitous and manipulative. These
representations of women would have been easily recognizable and
comfortable to an early modern audience. Shakespeare’s play,
however, does not simply rest with this over-generalized
portrayal of women. In fact, the female characters are slightly
subversive to the patriarchy, and at some level may have
discomfited an audience. The women are needed by their men.
Tamora is needed by Saturninus to rule the empire, and Lavinia’s
knowledge and voice are needed by her family to help regain
their honor. Women within the play are not simply the quiet and
ineffective possessions they were generally seen as in this
period, but have gained some measure of agency.
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