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Despite losing her ability to speak in act 2, Lavinia remains a key character throughout the play, and her presence bears a heavy symbolic weight. Her rape and mutilation mark her as a parallel to Philomela and Lucretia—two figures of legend who were victims of sexual violence. She particularly resembles Philomela, who, as Ovid recounts in the Metamorphoses, is raped by her brother-in-law, King Tereus of Thrace. Tereus then cuts out her tongue so she can’t tell anyone who committed the crime against her. Aside from inheriting the symbolic weight of such a story, Lavinia is also a figure who, in being reduced to a mute presence, can only communicate through gestures. As such, her body becomes the subject of intense scrutiny as the male characters around her struggle to decipher her meaning. Ultimately, what’s most meaningful to them is the desecration of her chastity—a tragedy that compels Titus to kill her in the final scene, supposedly to end her shame. But despite being a largely passive figure and the play’s supreme victim, it’s also important to note that prior to the violence against her, Lavinia showed herself just as capable as anyone of spouting cruel and hurtful words.
