Titus’ Murder and Mayhem Tree Map

It looks like a tree, but I meant for it to be a map. I wanted to map out Titus’ destructive decline in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. Titus Andronicus is my favourite Shakespeare play. The murder and mayhem is unrelenting and shocking. The first time I read the play I kept going back and forth in the text to count how many people had died. When I reread the play for the bootcamp, I was shocked anew by the brutality exhibited by the characters. I chose Titus Andronicus because I finally wanted to decide, for myself, the reason why Titus’ life goes downhill in such a spectacular manner. Is it the fact that he is a victorious general and therefore a threat to Saturninus? Is it his refusal to show mercy by ordering Alarbus, the oldest son of Tamora Queen of the Goths, dismembered? Or is it his overweening devotion to Rome that supersedes even familial ties? Or all of the above? Who does most of the killing? This play would have actually been great to graph (who kills and how many they kill, how they kill, percentage of characters left alive at the end…). I had originally wanted to “map” out the progression of the play hoping that a visual representation would shed some insight on it. Then I realized that mapping, according to Moretti, involves actual maps and distances, and that what I was creating was a tree (once I read Moretti’s third article). The tree allows me to visualize the play without having to flip back and forth between pages. Creating the map revealed quite clearly that there are three main branches to the story. First, that a triumphant Titus is a threat to Rome’s ruler Saturninus and that Titus’ overwhelming desire to be everything to Rome is detrimental to the rest of his life. Saturninus’ consideration of Titus as a threat to his power is beyond Titus’ control. Titus would have had to have been defeated in war for that to happen. Secondly, the first decision he makes when arriving home triumphant, to show no mercy and sacrifice Alarbus, is his first big mistake. He could probably have prevented all that happens to his family based on this decision, as Tamora would have had no reason to take revenge on all Andronici (if one assumes she would actually act differently). Finally, the third branch is Titus’ revenge. His revenge leads to pretty much every main character’s death, including his own, except for Marcus, Lucius, and Lucius’ son (and some minor characters who only appear once).

Who is the most murderous character? Why it is Titus! Fifteen people die, and it is Titus who kills the most at six murders: Alarbus (he does not actually do the deed but does pronounce his fate), Mutius (his son), Chiron, Demetrius, Lavinia (his daughter), and Tamora. So although the reader is supposed to be sympathetic to Titus, considering what he has sacrificed for Rome (or maybe disgusted by him as he puts Rome before his family – who knows?), he is actually the most murderous person in the play. So, how is the reader/playgoer supposed to feel about Titus knowing that he is responsible for most of the killing? He does start it after all. Should I feel sympathetic and argue that he is forced to take revenge or argue that his actions at the beginning of the play decide his fate? After seeing the map I would have to say that he brings on his own doom. Saturninus is next with four murders/executions: Quintus and Martius (Titus’s sons) – actually, they could be attributed to Aaron who frames them but Saturninus does give the order so… Saturninus also hangs the hapless clown who conveys Titus’ message (offstage), and stabs Titus. Lucius and Aaron are tied at two murders each. Lucius kills Saturninus and has Aaron executed (offstage), while Aaron kills both the nurse and midwife (offstage) who witness the birth of his son with Tamora. Finally, Tamora’s sons only kill one person, Bassianus, but commit the most heinous crime of the play (in my opinion), the rape and mutilation of Lavinia.  Although Tamora eating her sons is pretty gruesome. As a reader (or watcher) one starts to wonder as the play progresses (and the bodies pile up), who is next and how will they die? I feel that any deeper meaning the play might offer is subsumed by the salaciousness of the relentless violence. Even the map ends up providing only a list of who does what to whom. Therefore, I’m not sure if the map helped me see clearer at all, it just made it easier to count the bodies.

I got ideas for mapping not only from Moretti’s “Tree of Culture” (54), but on the Internet as well. I have never made a mind map before and I found that the mind maps I Googled were precisely what I was envisioning in attempting to map the play. I was old school in that I used pencil and paper to draw the map. I decided to mark every murder with drops of blood and big events with symbols I could draw. Unfortunately I cannot draw so that is why the map is pretty bare. Next time, however, I will indicate more clearly who kills whom, so that it is easier to see.

Originally, I had wanted to map out the possible consequences of Titus making different choices in his life. What if he had died and Rome had lost? What would that story be? What if he had shown mercy to Tamora and not killed Alarbus? Would that have given him a “happily ever after? (Would not be much of a story though.) What about not insisting Lavinia marry Saturninus? It leads to him killing Mutius. I soon realized, however, that the “Choose your own Adventure” route for Titus would probably make a pretty boring play, or not.

Works Cited

Moretti, Franco. “GRAPHS, MAPS, TREES: Abstract Models for Literary History – 3.” New Left Review 28 (Jul-Aug 2004): 43-63.

Shakespeare, William. Titus Andronicus. The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton & Company, 1997. 371-434. Print.